THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


x/ 


THE 


LIFE  AND  CORRESPONDENCE 


OF 


REV.  WILLIAM  SPARROW,  D.  D., 


LATE   PROFESSOR  OF  SYSTEMATIC  DIVINITY  AND  EVIDENCES,   IN  THE  EPISCOPAL 
THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY  OF  VIRGINIA. 


BY 

REV.  CORNELIUS  WALKER,  D.  D., 

PROFESSOR    OF     CHURCH     HISTORY    AND    CANON     LAW. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

JAMES  HAMMOND,  No.   1224  CHESTNUT   STREET 

1876. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

PREFACE vii 

CHAPTER  I 17-30 

Autobiographical  fragment.  Birth  in  America,  and  return  of  his  parents 
to  Ireland.  Ancestry  and  Parentage.  Residence  at  his  Grandfather's. 
Boarding  School,  and  his  estimate  of  different  kinds  of  education. 
His  teacher.  Remembrances  of  Ireland,  and  interest  in  its  people. 
Irish  beggars,  and  remedy  for  Irish  troubles.  Early  religious  impres- 
sions. Confirmation.  Teacher  of  Mathematics.  Death  of  his  Grand- 
father, and  return  of  his  parents  to  America.  Letter  of  Dr.  McElroy. 

(A    CHAPTER  II 31-38 

Utica.  Takes  charge  of  the  Academy.  Success.  Prayer  of  Presbyte- 
rian clergymen  in  his  behalf.  Columbia  College.  Attendance  upon 
lectures  of  Dr.  Milnor.  Death  of  his  mother,  and  return  to  Ohio. 
First  connection  with  Bishop  Chase  at  Worthington.  Cincinnati  Col- 
lege. Miami  University.  Return  to  Worthington.  Proposed  Semi- 
nary and  College.  Candidate  for  the  Ministry.  Prospects  at  Worth- 
ington, and  actual  work.  Delegate  in  Diocesan  Convention.  Ordina- 

^  tion  as  Deacon  and  as  Presbyter.     Report  of  ministerial  labors  for  the 

first  year. 

CM 

o     CHAPTER  III 39-71 

First  years  at  Worthington  and  Gambier.  Extract  from  letter  of  Dr. 
Burr.  Marriage.  Extracts  from  letters  of  Dr.  Preston,  Dr.  McElroy, 
and  Dr.  Fitch.  Nature  of  Mr.  Sparrow's  work  at  Gambier,  and  his 

.  relations  with  Bishop  Chase.    Original  design  of  the  College.    Bishop's 

theological  examination.  His  appearance.  George  Montgomery  West. 
Mr.  Sparrow's  preaching  tours.  Journeys  on  horseback,  and  incidents. 
Preparation  of  sermons.  Delicate  health.  College  difficulties.  Ex- 
tract from  letter  of  Dr.  Preston.  Controversy  with  the  Bishop.  Ex- 
uj  tracts  from  diary.  Subsequent  reconciliation.  Extracts  from  diary. 

First  letters  to  Professor  Wing. 

^     CHAPTER  IV 72-10 

College  and  Seminary  between  departure  of  Bishop  Chase  and  coming  of 
Bishop  Mcllvaine.  Duties  of  Professor  Sparrow.  General  Conven- 
tion of  1832.  First  visit  to  Ohio  of  Bishop  Mcllvaine.  Extracts  from 
diary.  Anticipations  of  Cholera.  Sickness,  and  recovery.  Extracts 
from  diary,  and  criticisms.  Letters  to  Professor  Wing.  Extracts  from 
diary.  Death  of  infant.  Work  in  connection  with  Gambier  "  Observer." 
Doctorate.  Letter  on  ministerial  duties  and  discouragements.  Visit 
to  Europe.  Letter  of  Rev.  Mr.  Kinsolving  in  reference  to  the  last 
years  at  Gambier,  Conclusion  of  address-  to  Literary  Societies  of  Ken* 


448339 


IV  TABLE    OF   CONTENTS. 

yon  College.  Action  of  Convention  in  1839.  Resignation  of  Dr. 
Sparrow,  in  1840,  and  determination  to  remove  to  Virginia.  Letter  to 
Dr.  Milnor. 

CHAPTER  V 101-186 

Departure  from  Gambier,  and  arrival  at  Alexandria.  Faculty  of  Semi- 
nary, and  work  of  Dr.  Sparrow.  Letters  to  Dr.  Wing  and  Mr.  Syle. 
Recitations  at  the  High  School.  Failure  of  Dr.  Keith's  health.  Res- 
ignation of  Professor  Lippit,  and  election  of  Dr.  May.  Suggestions  of 
Dr.  Sparrow  as  to  course  of  study.  Faculty  meetings.  Extempo- 
raneous preaching  and  speaking,  and  difficulties  connected  with  them. 
Sermons,  and  their  peculiar  characteristics.  Attendance  upon  Associa- 
tions. Course  of  study,  and  manner  of  teaching.  Disinclination  to 
Authorship.  Call  to  Gambier,  and  letter  to  Dr.  Wing.  General  Con- 
vention of  1844  and  Oxford  Controversy.  Reminiscences  of  Dr. 
Slaughter,  and  letter  of  Dr.  Sparrow,  of  Rev.  C.  E.  Ambler.  Corres- 
pondence. Publications.  Tour  to  Europe.  Letters  to  Rev.  E.W.  Syle. 

CHAPTER.  VI 187-245 

General  statement  of  work  during  this  period.  Visit  to  Europe. 
Extract  from  letter  of  Miss  Smith.  Invitations  to  Richmond,  to  Gam- 
bier, and  to  Boston.  Term  following  the  General  Convention  of  1850, 
incidents  and  letters.  Staunton  Convention.  Correspondence — Rev. 
J.  A.  Jerome,  Rev.  E.  W.  Syle.  Visit  to  New  York,  and  Annual  Ser- 
mon before  the  Directors  of  Evangelical  Knowledge  Society.  Visit  to 
Charlestown,  and  Convention  Sermon.  Proposition  for  removal,  and  let- 
ters in  connection  with  it.  Correspondence.  Sermon  at  Diocesan  Con- 
vention. Marriage  of  eldest  daughter  to  Rev.  J.  A.  Jerome.  Changes 
in  the  household.  Sermon  at  Wheeling.  Sensuous  religion.  Letters 
to  Dr.  Canfield  and  Mrs.  Grammer.  Correspondence.  Marriage  and 
departure  of  Mrs.  Smith  to  China.  Extract  from  sermon.  Letter. 
Call  to  Baltimore.  Sermons  at  Convention  and  day  of  thanksgiving. 
Intimations  of  the  coming  conflict.  Departure  of  Northern  students. 
Close  of  the  Seminary.  Interval  before  his  departure.  Letters  to  Rev. 
E.  W.  Syle.  Departure.  Seminary  taken  possession  of  by  Federal 
authorities. 

CHAPTER  VII 246-264 

Sojourn  at  Staunton  and  Stribling's  Springs.  Death  of  Mrs.  Dashiell. 
Letter  to  C.  F.  Lee,  Esq.  Conference  in  Richmond  as  to  re-establishment 
of  the  Seminary,  and  conclusion.  Council  at  Columbia.  Spirit  of  Dr. 
Sparrow  during  his  visit  to  Richmond.  Resumption  of  work  at  Staun- 
ton, and  removal  to  Halifax.  Death  of  Mrs.  Smith,  and  letter  of  Bishop 
Boone.  Extracts  from  letters  of  Rev.  P.  Powers,  and  Rev.  W.  H. 
Meade.  Death  of  Bishop  Meade,  and  visit  to  his  grave  at  Hollywood. 
Life  in  Staunton.  Extracts  from  letters  of  Mrs.  Jones,  Col.  Skinner, 
Mrs.  Sheffey,  and  Rev.  H.  E.  Hayden.  Return  to  Seminary,  and  let- 
ter to  Dr.  Canfield.  Preparations  for  reorganizing.  Invitation  to  Gam- 
bier, and  reply.  Letter  to  C.  F.  Lee,  Esq.  Spirit  in  prospect  of  his 
work. 

CHAPTER  VIII 265-315 

Effort  of  restoration,  1865-66.  Discouraging  circumstances  in  the  condi- 
tion of  the  buildings  and  grounds,  as  also  of  finances.  Arrangement 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS.  V 

of  classes  and  studies.  Letter  to  Dr.  Canfield.  Letters  from  Rev.  David 
Barr,  and  from  Rev.  H.  E.  Hayden.  Action  of  Board  of  Trustees  with 
reference  to  an  appeal  in  behalf  of  the  Seminary,  and  agency  of  Dr. 
Sparrow.  Letters  to  C.  F.  Lee,  Esq.,  and  Rev.  R.  H.  McKim.  In- 
creased numbers  of  second  session.  Letter  to  a  friend  in  affliction. 
Vacation  of  1867,  and  visit  to  the  West.  Ritualism,  and  its  opposite 
extreme  of  Skepticism.  General  Convention  of  1868.  Difficulties  with 
students  from  the  North,  and  in  regard  to  Preparatory  Department. 
Dodge  donation.  Commencement  Address  of  1869.  Letters  to  Dr. 
Grammer,  and  Rev.  T.  U.  Dudley,  Jr.  Case  of  Cheney,  and  view  of 
the  same.  Diocesan  Council  of  1871.  Preparations  for  voyage  across 
the  Atlantic.  Letter  to  a  student  at  the  University,  of  acknowledg- 
ment to  the  students  of  a  present,  on  his  seventieth  birthday.  Letter 
to  Rev.  J.  P.  Hubbard. 

CHAPTER  IX 316-365 

Time  and  direction  of  tour.  Letters  while  in  Europe  to  friends  there  and 
on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  Letters,  after  his  return  home,  to  relatives 
in  Ireland.  Death  of  Hon.  Thomas  Sparrow.  General  Convention  of 
1871,  and  view  as  to  the  Declaration.  Prayer-book  difficulties,  and 
mode  of  treating  them.  Letter  on  doctrine  of  tactual  succession.  Let- 
ter to  Rev.  J.  A.  Jerome.  Sickness  and  that  of  Mrs.  Sparrow.  Com- 
mencement Address  of  1872.  State  of  health.  Letter  to  Rev.  J.  P. 
Hubbard.  Anticipations  of  departure,  and  feelings  with  which  they 
were  entertained.  Sickness  and  death  of  Mrs.  Sparrow.  Sickness  of 
the  Doctor.  Letters.  Resumption  of  duties.  Suffering  from  deafness. 
Proposal  of  semi-centennial,  and  scheme  of  exercises.  Vacation.  Let- 
ter on  the  prayer-test,  to  Rev.  R.  H.  McKim,  and  one  to  Rev.  J.  A. 
Jerome.  Letter  to  a  gentleman,  after  an  alarming  attack  of  illness. 
Exercises  of  semi-centennial.  Visit  to  New  York,  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Evangelical  Alliance,  and  letter  in  regard  to  it.  Bishop  Cummins'  move- 
ment, and  views  in  regard  to  different  modes  of  treating  it.  Letter  to 
Rev.  H.  Suter.  Visit  to  New  York  for  the  purpose  of  collecting  funds 
for  the  Seminary.  Letter  to  Rev.  Phillips  Brooks.  Sermon  on  Sun- 
day, January  llth.  Dr.  Riley's  Lecture.  Faculty  meeting.  Satur- 
day morning.  Miss  B.'s  account  of  the  ride  to  Alexandria.  Sudden 
attack  and  death.  Dr.  B.'s  account.  Services  on  Sunday,  and  on  the 
day  of  funeral.  Conclusion. 

ADDRESS 366-387 

REMINISCENCES  OF  REV.  MR.  SYLE 388-409 

FRAGMENTS ,,.,,.  410-433 


PREFACE. 


In  the  preparation  of  the  following  Memoir,  regard  has  been 
had  more  especially  to  the  desires  and  wishes  of  one  class,  the 
largest  among  those  who  will  give  it  a  perusal,  the  pupils  of  Dr. 
Sparrow,  the  survivors  of  the  different  generations  of  students 
who,  for  nearly  half  a  century,  in  Ohio  and  in  Virginia,  were  under 
his  instruction.  Details,  perhaps  of  little  interest  to  others,  but  of 
much  to  these,  have  thus  been  introduced,  portions  of  correspond- 
ence inserted  that  might  have  been  otherwise  omitted,  and  points^ 
amplified  which  might  have  been  more  briefly  treated.  As 
belonging  to  this  brotherhood,  the  writer  has  had  no  difficulty  in 
deciding  what  he  would  have  desired  from  any  one  else  engaged  in 
his  undertaking.  What,  therefore,  he  would  have  wished  for  him- 
self, he  has  endeavored  to  provide  for  his  fellow-pupils. 

And  yet  the  features  of  most  interest  to  this  class  are  those  that 
will  be  apt  to  prove  of  interest  to  others.  The  hope  may  not 
unreasonably  be  indulged  that  outside  of  this  peculiar  circle,  and 
among  acquaintances  of  other  classes,  as  among  those  who  know 
of  its  subject  only  by  name,  this  memoir  may  be  productive  of 
instruction  and  benefit.  It  only  needed  contact  to  make  mani- 
fest Dr.  Sparrow's  intellectual  greatness.  His  moral  greatness, 
however,  his  simplicity,  his  integrity,  his  unfeigned  and  earnest 
piety,  his  devotion  to  the  will  of  God,  and  to  the  real  welfare  of  his 
fellow-men,  these,  not  so  immediately  noted,  nor  so  much  estimated, 
have  their  higher  value  in  the  way  of  influence,  and  can  scarcely 
fail,  in  a  record  of  this  kind,  to  be  recognized.  Such  record  cannot 
be  studied  without  benefit.  The  individual,  to  use  the  thought  of 
another,  constitutes,  while  living,  a  demonstration  of  the  power  and 
truth  of  Christianity ;  and  being  dead,  he  yet  speaks,  proclaiming 

vii 


viii  PREFACE. 

that  God  is  faithful,  that  the  promises  of  His  grace  have  had  their 
personal  verification. 

It  remains  that  acknowledgment  be  made  to  the  kind  friends, 
and  brethren  in  the  ministry,  by  whom  material,  in  the  way  of 
correspondence  and  otherwise,  has  been  furnished.  Where  there 
are  so  many,  it  is  difficult  to  specify;  and  the  writer  would,  therefore, 
make  his  general,  but  no  less  grateful,  acknowledgment  for  the 
essential  aid  thus  afforded.  As  to  the  correspondence,  the  largest, 
and  perhaps  the  most  important,  is  that  with  Professor  Wing, 
with  Rev.  E.  W.  Syle,  Rev.  E.  H.  Canfield,  D.  D.,  and  Rev.  J.  A. 
Jerome.  Single  letters,  however,  to  other  correspondents,  will  be 
found  of  deep  interest,  and  full  of  practical  instruction. 

The  Reminiscences  of  Rev.  Mr.  Syle,  containing  some  of  the 
choicest  material  of  the  volume,  were  received  only  after  the  book 
was  in  the  hands  of  the  printer.  Perhaps  it  is  better  that  they 
should  be  in  their  present  form,  rather  than  arranged  in  the  order 
of  time,  in  the  narrative,  as  might  have  been  the  case  if  received 
at  an  earlier  period. 

The  Address,  at  the  Commencement  following  the  death  of  Dr. 
Sparrow,  has,  at  the  suggestion  of  brethren  present  at  its  delivery, 
been  inserted.  Its  subject  makes  it  supplemental  to  the  Memoir. 

The  Fragments  are  selections  from  brief  sketches,  many  of  which, 
of  a  similar  character,  are  found  among  the  Doctor's  papers.  Some 
of  taem  were  manifestly  intended  for  Faculty  meeting  addresses, 
some  for  sermons,  others  for  articles,  and  some,  doubtless,  as 
analytical  of  subjects  with  which  his  mind  at  the  time  was 
interested. 

It  was  in  prospect  to  have  included  several  of  the  most  striking 
of  his  Commencement  addresses ;  but  this,  in  view  of  the  size  of  the 
volume,  was  found  to  be  not  practicable. 


MEMOIR 


OF 


WILLIAM  SPARROW,  D.D. 


CHAPTER   I. 

EARLY   LIFE   IN    IRELAND. 

"  The  generations  of  men  succeed  one  another,  like  the  waves  of 
the  sea.  They  have  no  permanence.  They  are  here  for  a  little 
time,  and  then  gone  forever.  The  most  that  one  generation  can 
do  for  another  must  have  reference  to  the  eternity  which  lies 
beyond  the  grave." 

These  sentences  were  written  by  the  subject  of  this  memoir, 
during  a  voyage  across  the  Atlantic,  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
century  ago.  Their  opening  comparison  was  doubtless  suggested 
by  what  was  daily  before  his  eyes,  and,  perhaps,  at  the  moment  he 
was  writing — "  the  waves  of  the  sea,"  over  which  he  was  returning 
to  the  home  of  his  childhood.  Their  closing  thought  gives  us  the 
key-note  as  to  the  proper  object  of  our  undertaking,  and,  indeed, 
of  all  religious  biography — that  of  spiritual  benefit  to  survivors  and 
readers.  It  should  have  "  reference  to  the  eternity  which  lies  be- 
yond," and  so  influence  the  present  life  as  to  fit  it  for  the  higher  life 
of  Heavenly  existence.  Other  and  subordinate  objects,  connected 
with  such  undertaking,  may,  of  course,  be  sought  and  attained.  But 
this  should  never  be  forgotten.  While  we  gratefully  recall  the  traits 
of  personal  character  which  gave  charm  to  the  intercourse  of  friend- 
ship and  daily  life,  and  draw  our  hearts  to  the  departed  in  affectionate 
regard  and  veneration ;  while  we  thank  God  in  every  remembrance 
of  the  privilege  of  such  association,  yet  there  is  this  higher  object, 
to  which  all  these  others  should  have  regard.  It  is  as  the 
life,  in  its  particulars,  and  in  its  general  result,  bears  upon 
2  17 


18  M  E  M  0  I  R    0  F 

other  lives,  "with  reference  to  the  eternity  beyond;"  in  other 
words,  as  it  constitutes  an  illustration  of  the  grace  of  God,  bring- 
ing honor  to  Him  and  blessing  to  His  creatures,  that  it  specially 
claims  our  regard  and  imitation.  We  thus  trace  the  Divine 
lineaments  of  the  Master  in  the  life  of  His  follower ;  find  induce- 
ments, for  ourselves,  to  greater  spiritual  earnestness  and  activity. 
If  in  any  degree  we  shall  succeed  in  accomplishing  what  was  the 
habitual  desire  of  him  of  whom  we  are  writing,  it  will  be  in 
making  this  record  subservient  to  these  great  purposes. 

William,  the  first  son  of  Samuel  Sparrow  and  Mary  Roe,  was 
born  in  Charlestown,  Massachusetts,  March  12th,  1801.  His 
father,  a  native  of  Ireland,  had  been  residing  in  this  country  only 
a  few  years,  at  this  time.  He  had  left  Ireland  in  consequence  of 
implication  in  the  Rebellion  of  1793,  coming  to  America,  where 
he  remained  until  the  year  1805.  In  that  year  he  returned  to 
Ireland,  and  remained  until  1817,  when  he  again  came  to  America, 
making  it  his  permanent  home  until  his  death,  in  Ohio,  in  1838. 

His  father,  the  grandfather  of  the  subject  of  this  memoir, 
William  Sparrow,  of  the  town  of  Gorey,  Wexford  County,  Ireland, 
was  the  descendant  of  a  family  of  English  stock,  who  settled  in 
Wexford  during  the  Protectorate  of  Cromwell.  Quite  a  number 
of  the  name,  mostly  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  were  to  be 
found  in  that  neighborhood,  as  also  in  the  town  of  Ennis- 
corthy,  about  the  beginning  of  the  present  century.  William. 
Sparrow  was  what  was  termed  a  middle  man ;  that  is,  he  was  the 
holder  of  long  leases  on  large  tracts  of  land,  which,  on  the 
system  of  tenantry  then  prevailing,  he  rented  out  in  smaller 
parcels  to  the  actual  tenants.  He  was  also,  at  various  times, 
engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits.  Soon  after  the  return  of  his  son 
to  Ireland,  in  1805,  his  grandson  and  namesake,  the  subject  of  our 
memoir,  became  an  inmate  in  his  household,  and  there  remained 
during  the  most  of  his  boyhood.  Dr.  McElroy,  who  was  acquainted 
with  Dr.  Sparrow  and  his  father  in  Ohio,  states  that  the  intention 
of  his  grandfather  was  to  have  made  him  his  heir,  and  at  the  time 
of  his  death  had  prepared  him  for  entrance  into  Trinity  College, 
Dublin.  Whether  change  of  determination,  or  sudden  death  without 
specific  provision  in  his  will  to  that  effect,  prevented  the  carrying 
out  of  this  design,  is  not  known.  It  probably  secured  the  primary 
training  and  habits  of  study  which  stood  him  in  such  good  stead 
during  his  subsequent  life.  It  was  here  that  he  obtained  his 


WILLIAM    SPARRO  W,    D.  D.  19 

impressions  of  Irish  character,  and  gathered  up  that  stock  of 
incident,  in  referring  to  which,  in  after  life,  he  found  so  much 
pleasure.  Those  who  have  heard  him  allude  to  these  incidents  will 
deeply  regret  that  an  undertaking  upon  which  he  once  entered 
was  not  carried  out  to  its  completion,  that  of  an  autobiography,  for 
the  benefit  and  instruction  of  his  children.  The  fragment,  com- 
menced in  1848,  during  his  voyage  from  this  country  to  Europe, 
has  already  been  alluded  to,  and  a  portion  used  as  introducing  our 
narrative.  The  rest  of  it  may  here  be  most  appropriately  inserted : 

"  I  have  often  thought,  dear  children,  that  it  might  be  profitable 
to  both  you  and  me,  that  I  should  address  some  thoughts,  and 
narrate  some  facts  to  you,  not  to  be  read  till  after  my  decease. 
And  now,  here,  in  the  midst  of  the  Atlantic,  on  this  third  day  of 
July,  1848,  I  begin  my  task. 

"  The  generations  of  men  succeed  one  another,  like  the  waves  of 
the  sea.  They  have  no  permanence.  They  are  seen  for  a  time, 
and  then  gone  forever.  The  most  that  one  generation  can  do  for 
another  must  have  reference  to  the  eternity  which  lies  beyond 
the  grave.  The  mutual  services  which  we  may  render,  which  are 
limited  to  their  influence  in  this  life,  are  comparatively  of  small 
account.  What  I  write,  therefore,  is  designed  chiefly  to  bear  upon 
that  other  world  in  which  we  must  all,  however  old  I  may  be  and 
however  young  you,  soon  be  assembled.  If,  through  God's  mercy 
in  Christ,  anything  can  be  made  instrumental  in  bringing  us 
together  in  a  happy  immortality,  our  songs  of  praise  shall  never 
cease.  But  while  the  heavenly  inheritance  is  the  chief  thing  to 
be  sought  after,  it  is  pleasing  to  reflect  that  the  pursuit  of  it  in  no 
way  interferes  with  present  happiness;  nay,  that  God  has  so 
ordered  things  that  the  earnest  pursuit  of  heaven  will  cause  a  man, 
as  the  Saviour  has  it,  '  to  inherit  the  earth.'  In  reference  to  your 
temporal  interests  I  should  have  no  manner  of  apprehension,  if  I 
were  sure  your  spiritual  interests  would  be  duly  attended  to. 
The  nature  of  true  religion  is  such  that  it  gives  a  man  those 
qualities  which,  according  to  the  laws  that  obtain  in  society  and 
human  life,  naturally  result  in  earthly  prosperity.  But  besides 
this,  God,  who  is  above  nature,  has  promised  that  they  that  seek 
Him  shall  never  lack. 

"  Let  me  make,  first,  a  few  statements  about  my  family.  Family 
pride,  like  purse  pride,  pride  of  office,  pride  of  talent,  and  all  other 
kinds  of  pride,  is  a  weakness.  However  the  world  may  look  upon 


20  MEMOIR    OF 

it,  the  spirit  of  Christianity  condemns  it ;  it  is  inconsistent  in  a 
Christian.  Even  philosophy  has  pointed  out  its  imsoundness.  But 
family  affection  is  a  different  thing.  It  is  the  best  of  all  our  natural 
affections ;  less  low  and  selfish  than  any  other,  and  prepares  the 
way  for  higher  and  better  things.  With  a  view,  therefore,  to  lay 
a  foundation  for  this,  let  me  say  a  few  words  about  your  ancestry 
a  couple  of  generations  back,  first  making  the  general  remark,  as 
I  do  with  some  satisfaction,  that  I  know  nothing  discreditable  of 
any  of  them.  As  far  as  my  information  goes  they  were  persons  of 
respectability  and  morality,  and  many  of  them  lived  and  died  in 
the  faith,  and  hope,  and  charity  of  the  Gospel. 

"  Both  of  my  grandfathers,  and  one  of  my  grandmothers,  I  saw 
and  knew,  to  my  fifteenth  year.  My  grandfather  Sparrow  I  lived 
with,  from  my  fifth  year.  His  wife  was  named  Harrison,  and  died 
in  the  prime  of  life.  My  grandfather  continued  a  widower  to  the 
end  of  his  life,  which  lasted  for  thirty  years  after.  He  was  a  man 
of  deep  affections,  too  much  reserve,  and  high  iotegrity.  He  lived 
in  a  small  house  in  Gorey,  county  Wexford,  he  and  I  and  two 
servants  making  up  the  family.  He  was  of  very  retired  habits  when 
I  knew  him.  Probably  he  was  of  a  different  disposition.  He  was 
charitable  to  the  poor,  and  read  his  Bible  and  Prayer-book ;  but, 
by  a  singular  and  gross  inconsistency,  he  never  went  to  the  Parish 
Church,  in  my  day.  This  arose  out  of  a  dispute  with  a  former 
rector,  a  very  unworthy  man  ;  and  when  another  man  was  brought 
in  his  place,  the  habit  of  non-attendance  was  so  fixed,  that  my 
grandfather  never  broke  through  it.  His  sin  in  this  particular 
he  confessed,  and  deeply  lamented,  to  my  mother,  on  his  death-bed. 
It  is  a  fearful  sin  to  forsake  the  house  of  God,  so  conveying  to  the 
world  the  impression  that  we  do,  and  can,  and  think  it  fit  to,  live 
'without  God  in  the  world.' 

(':In  early 'life  my  grandfather  Sparrow  had  been  a  man  of  busi- 
ness:; .when  :I  knew  him,  he  was  living  on  an  income  of  fifteen  or 
•twenty  hundred  dollars,  from  a  life  interest  which  he  held  in  some 
land  i belonging  to  TLord  Fitznorris.  While  in  trade,  and  ever 
after,  he  bore  a  high  character  for  uprightness  and  honor.  My 
grandmother  Sparrow  I  never  saw.  She  was  most  highly  spoken 
of,  as  a  most  excellent  woman,  wife  and  mother.  Her  family  name 
was  Harrison.  After  her  my  sister  Susan  was  called — Susan  Har- 
.rison  Sparrow. 
• "  My  grandfathers  Spar/row  andJJoe  were  originally  from  the  same 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  21 

county,  Wexford,  and  the  same  town,  'Gorey;  though  the  latter 
spent  the  last  twenty  years  of  his  life  in  Dublin.  Both  families 
were  large  in  the  county  of  Wexford.  The  Sparrows  are  said  to 
have  removed  to  it,  from  England,  in  the  time  of  Cromwell.  Most 
of  them  are  Quakers,  and  quite  a  thrifty  people.  When  the  Eoes 
removed  from  England,  to  the  Pale,  I  have  not  learned.  They  were  a 
numerous  and  respectable  family  about  Gorey  and  its  neighborhood. 
In  the  Eebellion,  my  grandfather,  Henry  Eoe,  removed  his  family, 
for  security,  to  Dublin ;  and  when  the  Rebellion  was  over  and  peace 
restored,  found  such  prospects  opening  before  him  in  the  capital, 
that  he  was  induced  to  settle  there  for  life.  My  grandmother's 
maiden  name  was  Woodrofe,  also  of  a  family  in  Gorey,  respectable 
in  themselves,  and  respectably  connected,  though,  like  most  of  the 
gentry  in  Ireland,  of  that  day,  they  had  too  high  a  style  of  living 
for  their  means. 

"  The  families  of  both  my  grandfathers  were  large.  That  of  my 
grandfather  Sparrow  was  cut  off  as  soon  as  they  reached  maturity, 
all  but — "  his  son  Samuel,  we  may  add,  to  fill  up  the  sentence,  who 
married  Mary  Roe,  daughter  of  Dr.  Henry  Roe,  and  whose  rela- 
tions to  our  subject  have  already  been  indicated. 

"  About  my  own  history,"  to  quote  from  another  fragment, 
written,  perhaps,  some  ten  or  fifteen  years  later,  "  it  may  be  well  to 
speak  this  much.  My  father  came  over  from  Ireland  to  this 
country  soon  after  the  Rebellion  of  '98,  and  settled  in  Massachusetts, 
near  Boston.  There  two  sisters,  older  than  myself,  and  I,  were 
born.  About  1805  my  father  returned,  with  his  family,  to  Ireland, 
at  the  request  of  my  grandfather,  and  remained  there  until  after 
his  death.  In  about  a  year  al'ter  that  event  we  returned  to  the 
United  States,  settling  first  in  Utica,  New  York,  and  ultimately  in 
Ohio.  The  family  then  consisted  of  my  father  and  mother,  my 
sister  Susan,  myself,  and  my  brother  Edward.  Three  had  been 
buried  in  Ireland.  Two  more  were  afterward  added,  Anna  Maria, 
born  in  Utica,  and  Thomas,  born  in  Ohio. 

"Let  me  now  confine  myself  to  my  own  history.  I  might  speak 
of  my  school-boy  days  in  Ireland.  I  was  a  boarder,  for  three  years 
or  so,  in  the  best  boarding  school  in  our  section.  It  was  near 
Arklow,  at  the  opening  of  the  vale  of  Avoca,  in  which  the  scholars 
often  rambled.  When  I  call  to  mind  the  evil  influences  I  was 
exposed  to,  I  at  once  thank  God  that  I  escaped  with  no  greater 
detriment  from  the  bad  example  and  principles  of  my  companions  ; 


22  MEMOIROF 

and  it  saddens  me  to  think  that  youths  from  moral  and  pious 
families  have  to  pass  through  such  an  ordeal  to  get  an  education. 
The  school,  I  am  persuaded,  was  no  worse  than  the  generality, 
whether  in  Ireland  or  in  this  country.  But  a  public  school  is,  at 
best,  a  necessary  evil.  If  I  could,  I  would  have  a  private  tutor 
instead ;  though  even  that  method  of  preparing  youth  for  the 
university  is  attended  with  its  disadvantages ;  but  they  are  not,  in 
my  judgment,  so  serious  or  difficult  of  prevention.  The  instruction 
was  good,  but  the  text  books  were  naught ;  far  inferior  to  those 
now  used.  The  discipline  was  rigid  but  not  despotic.  The  head 
of  the  school  was  a  clergyman,  a  scholar,  and  a  gentleman ;  but 
too  much  sought  after  by  the  neighboring  gentry,  on  account  of 
his  social  qualities,  to  leave  him  as  devoted  as  he  should  have  been 
to  the  interests  of  the  school.  He  always  treated  me  with  kind- 
ness, and  his  influence  upon  my  course  in  life  proved  salutary." 

Thus,  at  his  grandfather's  as  his  home,  but  with  the  interval  already 
mentioned,  of  the  boarding  school,  it  would  seem,  he  continued  until 
near  the  time  of  the  departure  of  his  father  and  the  family  to  this 
country,  in  1817,  say  until  the  neighborhood  of  his  sixteenth  year ; 
the  period  of  life  to  which  he  always  recurred  with  unfailing  interest 
and  affection.  His  love  of  Ireland  was  that  of  one  whose  freshest 
years  of  life  had  been  spent  there,  and  under  circumstances  and 
associations  pleasant,  in  after  times,  to  be  remembered.  He  was 
old  enough  to  acquire  the  tastes  and  feelings  of  a  native,  and  in  all 
his  subsequent  career  they  were  clearly  distinguishable.  One  of 
these  was  very  strikingly  exhibited  in  his  admiration  of  the  then 
poet  of  Ireland.  Some  of  Moore's  melodies,  doubtless  read  as  they 
came  out,  with  all  the  enthusiasm  of  youth  and  of  national  predilec- 
tion, he  was  able  to  repeat  late  in  life,  and  with  a  pathos  and  beauty 
which  showed  that  they  were  thoroughly  appreciated.  Among  these 
there  was  one,  descriptive  of  the  localities  over  which  he  had  rambled 
in  boyhood,  connected  with  a  later  experience  of  a  deeply  interest- 
ing character.  Twenty-one  years  after  leaving  Ireland,  in  the 
year  1838,  he  revisited  the  home  of  his  childhood,  as  also  the  place 
of  his  early  education.  "  I  was,"  said  he,  speaking  of  it  many 
years  afterward,  "a  good  part  of  a  day  traveling  in  the  stage  up  the 
vale  of  Avoca,  returning,  after  a  long  interval,  to  my  old  home. 
More  than  once  I  found  myself  thinking  of  those  lines  of  Moore, 
so  descriptive  of  my  feelings  under  the  circumstances.  Many  of 
those  of  whom  I  thus  thought,  and  whom  I  expected  to  see  at  the 


W  I  L  L  I  A  M     S  P  A  R  R  0  W,    D.  D.  23 

end  of  my  journey,  I  found  were  gone."  The  opening  and  closing 
stanzas  of  the  passage,  thus  associated  with  that  day's  travel,  with 
the  anticipations  and  the  failure  to  realize  them  at  its  close,  will 
show  their  singular  appropriateness  to  the  circumstances  under 
which  they  were  thus  recalled : — • 

"  '  There  is  not  in  the  wide  world  a  valley  so  sweet 
As  that  vale  in  whose  bosom  the  bright  waters  meet  ; 
Oh !  the  last  ray  of  feeling  and  life  must  depart 
Ere  the  bloom  of  that  valley  shall  fade  from  my  heart. 

" '  Sweet  vale  of  Avoca !  how  calm  would  I  rest 
In  thy  bosom  of  shade,  with  the  friends  I  love  best; 
When  the  storms  that  we  feel  in  this  cold  world  should  cease, 
And  our  souls,  like  thy  waters,  be  mingled,  with  peace.' " 

It  was  in  such  feelings  and  associations  that  the  subject  of  this 
memoir,  although  American  born,  was  so  largely  Irish  in  his 
sympathies  and  character.  The  impressions  of  those  early  days 
were  fresh  and  pleasant  with  him  to  the  end.  A  considerable 
portion  of  his  last  visit  to  the  Old  World,  in  1871,  was  made  to 
the  neighborhood  in  which  he  had  spent  his  days  of  boyhood,  and 
on  the  very  last  day  of  his  life,  but  with  no  intimation  that  the 
end  was  so  near,  he  made  a  playful  allusion  to  some  of  his  early 
experiences,  as  illustrative  of  a  matter  of  which  he  was  conversing. 

Among  the  reminiscences  of  this  early  period,  so  pleasant  as 
they  manifestly  were  to  the  narrator,  and  so  genial  in  their  narra- 
tion to  the  listener,  a  few  may  be  recalled  in  this  connection.  One 
of  the  earliest  was  connected  with  a  visit  made  to  himself  by  his 
parents,  after  he  had  gone  to  live  at  his  grandfather's.  It  was 
mentioned  to  illustrate  the  carefulness  of  the  system,  then  preva- 
lent, for  guarding  children  against  the  danger  of  taking  cold.  "  I 
slept,"  said  he,  "in  a  feather  bed,  with  close  curtains  and  an  abund- 
ance of  covering,  and  was,  besides,  protected  with  flannel.  Once, 
when  my  father  and  rhother  arrived  after  night,  'the  boy,'  with  a 
woolen  comforter  wrapped  around  his  neck  and  shoulders,  was  set 
up  in  the  bed  to  receive  them ;  and  after  being  duly  admired  and 
caressed,  was  again  covered  up  and  curtained  in  safety." 

"Nobody,"  said  he  again,  in  speaking  of  another  topic,  "nobody 
could  understand  the  beggary  of  Ireland  except  by  living  in  the 
country.  At  our  house  each  member  of  the  family  had  his  or  her 
particular  beggar  to  be  remembered;  and  when  he  came  he  looked 


24  MEMOIROF 

to  his  patron  for  relief."  This  was  bringing  in  the  principle  of 
patronage,  as  also  that  of  the  division  of  labor  and  responsibility. 
"  I  had  my  beggar,"  said  he,  "  and  when  he  made  his  appearance  I 
tried  to  have  something  for  him."  In  this  respect  the  old  feeling 
exerted  its  influence  in  after  life.  An  Irish  beggar  who  knocked 
at  the  door  of  the  Doctor's  study,  at  the  Seminary,  was  allowed  to 
have  his  talk,  sometimes  was  asked  some  questions  about  his  home 
over  the  sea,  and  never  sent  away  empty.  Irish  workmen,  if 
engaged  upon  repairs  of  the  buildings,  or  otherwise,  were  apt  to  be 
found  out;  and  delineations  of  Irish  character,  such,  for  instance, 
as  those  of  Charles  Lever,  were  keenly  appreciated.  "Trench's 
Sketches  of  the  Irish  Peasantry"  was  one  of  the  books  which 
helped  to  relieve  the  tedium  of  confinement  after  his  severe  sick- 
ness, in  the  spring  of  1873.  It  was  a  topic  ever  fresh  and  full 
of  interest,  and  bringing  up  to  his  mind  and  heart  grateful  memo- 
ries of  the  people  and  home  of  his  childhood. 

There  was  not  in  this  interest,  however,  that  kind  of  influence 
which  affected  his  judgment  as  to  the  real  troubles  under  which 
Ireland  was  suffering.  His  remedy,  and  the  only  one  in  which  he 
had  any  confidence,  for  the  troubles  there,  as  for  those  of  Spain,  and 
Italy,  and  Mexico,  was  a  Christianity  based  upon  Scriptural  intelli- 
gence, in  other  words,  genuine  Protestantism.  His  hopes  for  the 
population  with  which  his  early  life  had  brought  him  in  contact, 
rested  not  upon  any  proposed  or  possible  change  in  the  relations  of 
that  population  to  its  rulers  at  home  or  in  England,  but  in  a  change 
of  their  relations  to  their  religious  teachers.  Most  strikingly  was 
his  sagacity  exhibited  in  an  opinion  called  forth  in  recitation, 
during  the  year  1844,  when  the  Temperance  movement,  under 
Father  Matthew,  was  making  such  wonderful  progress.  The 
question  was  asked  in  class,  "  whether  this  great  movement,  which 
promised  so  much  of  moral  amelioration,  carried  on  by  a  Catholic 
Priest,  would  not  tend  to  the  still  greater  advancement  of  that 
system."  The  prompt  reply  was,  "no;  that  everything  which 
had  the  effect  of  enlightening  and  elevating  a  population  would 
have  the  additional  effect  of  weakening  the  influence  of  the  Eom- 
ish  and  increasing  that  of  the  Protestant  system."  The  wonderful 
movement  in  that  country  during  the  next  fifteen  years  fully 
justified  the  opinion  thus  expressed. 

Very  little  has  been  mentioned  specially,  as  to  his  earlier  reli- 


WILLIAM    SPARRO  W,    D.  D.  25 

gious  life.  His  allusion  to  his  grandfather's  relations  to  the  Church 
is  a  very  brief  one,  and  throws  no  light  upon  his  own  feelings  at 
that  time,  or  as  to  any  peculiar  influences  that  were  brought  to 
bear  upon  him  in  the  formation  of  his  religious  character.  He 
was  confirmed  in  Ireland,  of  course,  before  his  sixteenth  year,  but 
the  year  is  unknown ;  and  there  is  no  evidence  as  to  how  soon  the 
question  of  entering  the  ministry  became  one  of  personal  interest 
and  definite  consideration.  He  once  incidentally  mentioned,  in  a 
Thursday  evening  meeting,  that  early  in  life  he  had  been  led  to 
regard  the  position  of  an  English  Eector  as,  perhaps,  one  of  the  most 
desirable  that  could  be  thought  of,  so  far  as  regarded  mere  earthly 
comfort  and  happiness.  But  whether  the  thought  went  beyond 
this  at  the  time,  or  further  shaped  itself  into  personal  desire  and 
anticipation  for  the  higher  work  of  the  ministry,  and  with  refer- 
ence to  its  spiritual  objects  and  results,  he  gave  no  intimation. 
The  probabilities,  however,  are,  that  at  a  very  early  period  he  came 
under  decided  religious  influence,  and  that  to  this  there  was  an 
early  response  of  sanctified  impression.  His  uncle,  the  Rev.  Peter 
Roe,  was  one  of  the  most  earnest  of  the  Irish  clergy  of  that  day, 
of  decided  Evangelical  views  and  sympathies,  and  largely  instru- 
mental in  giving  start  and  direction  to  a  powerful  religious  awaken- 
ing, the  fruits  of  which  have  since  been  abundantly  enjoyed.  It 
is  hardly  probable  that  such  a  man  would  have  failed  to  exercise 
some  religious  influence  upon  a  sister's  child  at  the  time  of  Con- 
firmation. We  find  the  uncle  and  nephew  in  communication  after 
the  arrival  of  the  latter  in  this  country,  and  on  matters  connected 
with  religion.  The  deep  tenderness,  too,  with  which  he  always 
spoke  of  his  mother,  and  of  her  influence  in  the  formation  of  his 
character,  and  the  devoted  affection  with  which  he  cherished  her 
memory,  would  indicate  that  the  sister  and  brother  were  of  like 
mind  and  heart  upon  this  subject.  In  all  probability,  her  love  and 
prayers  first  consecrated  him  to  the  Lord,  and  sought  those  spiritual 
blessings  which  he  afterwards  so  richly  enjoyed.  During  a  season 
of  special  religious  interest  in  one  of  the  Dissenting  churches,  he  was 
taken  by  some  of  the  servants,  without  his  grandfather's  knowledge, 
to  attend  the  services,  and  subsequently  described  himself  as  having 
been  deeply  impressed  by  what  he  saw  and  heard.  Whether  at  this 
or  at  some  other  time,  is  not  known,  but  during  some  portion  of 
his  boyhood  his  mind  and  heart  were  so  impressed,  that,  as  the 


26  MEMOIROF 

i 

prayers  of  the  Liturgy  were  read,  during  service,  on  Sunday 
morning,  lie  found  it  impossible  to  restrain  his  feelings — would 
sometimes  be  in  tears,  during  the  whole  of  the  prayers.  "  I  re- 
member," said  he,  speaking  of  this  same  period,  "that  there  was  a 
man  in  the  neighborhood  whose  mind  had  lost  its  balance,  espe- 
cially on  religious  subjects.  Among  other  things,  he  endeavored 
to  live,  in  various  outward  respects,  like  our  Lord  and  His  Apos- 
tles. I  was  very  much  impressed  by  his  earnestness.  In  spite  of 
his  mental  unsoundness,  there  was  much  in  his  bearing  that  re- 
buked the  Christianity  of  many  who  looked  upon  him  with  com- 
passion." 

These  are  but  fragments,  but  they  show,  even  in  boyhood,  cer- 
tain traits  of  character  which  were  fully  developed  and  exhibited 
in  his  subsequent  career :  deep  thoughtfulness,  going  to  the  realities 
of  things ;  religious  susceptibility,  and  that  peculiar  power  of  sympa- 
thy which  rendered  him  so  thoroughly  appreciative  as  to  the 
feelings  of  his  fellow  creatures. 

This  portion  of  his  life,  as  we  have  seen,  terminates  with  the 
departure  of  his  father  and  his  family  to  America.  His  grand- 
father died  in  1816,  and  the  grandson  returned  to  his  father's  home 
at  Enniscorthy.  Before  this,  and  during  the  subsequent  interval 
between  his  grandfather's  death  and  the  removal  to  this  country, 
he  seems  to  have  been  at  the  school  mentioned  in  the  autobio- 
graphical fragment  already  quoted.  His  preparation  was  sufficient 
to  enable  him  to  take  charge  of  an  Academy  in  Utica,  within  the 
first  eighteen  months  after  his  arrival  in  America,  and  to  enter 
Columbia  College  the  year  after,  1819.  No  particulars  are  accessi- 
ble as  to  the  instructions  of  this  early  period,  beyond  those  given 
by  himself,  in  the  extract  just  quoted.  Among  those  to  whom 
his  thoughts  recurred  during  the  day's  journey  in  the  vale  of  Avoca, 
he  mentioned  especially  his  old  teacher,  and  spoke  of  his  sad- 
ness, at  its  termination,  to  find  that  he  was  no  longer  living.  To 
this  unknown  teacher,  a  "scholar  and  a  gentleman,"  was,  in  all 
probability,  due  the  first  intellectual  awakening  and  the  habits 
of  accurate  mastery  by  which,  in  after  life,  he  was  characterized. 
Very  considerable  progress  must  have  been  made,  both  in 
training  and  acquisition,  to  enable  him  to  take  the  position  which 
he  did  a  year  or  two  afterwards,  and  to  sustain  himself  in  it  suc- 
cessfully. "My  teacher,"  said  he,  on  a  certain  occasion,  insisting 


WILLIAM    SPARRO  W,    D.  D.  27 

upon  the  importance  of  mathematics  in  intellectual  culture,  and 
of  the  necessity  of  thoroughness,  to  secure  its  benefits,  "my  teacher 
would  never  accept  an  imperfect  recitation.  'Sit  down  honey/ 
'  sit  down  honey,'  was  his  standing  order,  at  anything  like  hesita- 
tion, confusion,  or  haziness,  in  the  demonstration,  and  there  was 
no  appeal."  The  lessons  were  thus  thoroughly  mastered.  And  the 
pupil,  in  this  particular  instance,  regarded  it  as  the  most  important 
part  of  his  early  training.  Whether  the  teacher  thus  alluded  to 
was  the  one  in  Ireland,  or  one  of  a  later  date,  is  uncertain.  It 
is  more  probable  that  it  was  the  former. 

We  are  thus  brought  to  the  close  of  his  life  in  Ireland.  In  1817 
his  father's  family,  consisting  of  the  parents  and  three  children, 
one  sister  and  two  brothers,  removed  to  this  country,  and  settled 
at  Utica,  Western  New  York. 

The  following  communication  from  Rev.  Dr.  McElroy,  while 
repeating  some  of  the  facts  already  mentioned  and  partly  derived 
from  it,  contains  also  other  matter  which  will  be  of  interest  in 
connection  with  this  portion  of  our  narrative. 

"  SANTA  CLARA,  CALIFORNIA, 

"  August  28,  1874. 
"  REV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER  : — 

"  In  reply  to  yours  of  the  19th,  I  communicate,  with  great 
pleasure,  what  information  I  possess  of  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Sparrow's 
boyhood,  and  of  his  parents.  He  was  a  native  of  Massachusetts, 
and  three  years  old  when  .taken  to  Ireland  by  his  parents,  on  their 
return  to  their  native  land.  He  was  for  several  years  at  school  in 
Ireland,  but  whether  as  a  day  scholar  or  boarder  I  cannot  say. 
He  often,  in  his  conversations  with  me,  reverted  to  the  thorough 
drill  in  Latin,  Greek,  history  and  mathematics,  in  the  school  which 
he  attended,  and  to  the  ability  and  accurate  scholarship  of  his 
teachers.  The  school  was,  I  think,  at  Enniscorthy.  When  his 
parents  returned  to  America,  he  had  mastered  the  extensive 
preparatory  courses  of  Latin  and  Greek,  for  entrance  at  Trinity 
College,  Dublin.  Either  immediately  on  their  return  to  America, 
or  very  soon  after,  the  family  settled  at  Utica,  New  York ;  he, 
advised  and  encouraged  by  his  mother,  became,  youthful  stranger 
as  he  was,  a  candidate  at  a  competitive  examination  for  the  position 
of  classical  teacher  in  the  principal  academy  of  the  city.  He  more 
than  once  dwelt  with  graphic  interest  upon  that  incident  in  his 


28  MEMOIR    OF 

life,  and  the  happiness  which  his  success  and  appointment  yielded 
to  his  mother. 

"  During  the  whole  of  his  boyhood  in  Ireland  the  Irish  Episco- 
pal Church  was  in  a  fervid  glow  of  revived  spiritual  life  and 
activity ;  and  doubtless  he  received,  from  infancy,  faithful  and 
discriminating  Evangelical  instruction.  But  by  what  means  and 
instrumentalities  he  was  brought  to  our  Lord,  and  led  openly  to 
confirm  his  baptismal  vows,  or  from  what  bishop  he  received  the 
ordinance  of  Confirmation,  I  cannot  with  certainty  say.  My 
impression,  however,  as  to  the  bishop,  although  not  very  satisfactory 
and  distinct,  is  that  Bishop  Burke,  the  father  of  a  Captain  Burke, 
who  in  his  day  was  a  noted  and  efficient  Evangelical  layman,  was 
the  bishop  to  whose  diocese  Enniscorthy  belonged  in  Dr.  Sparrow's 
boyhood.  An  anecdote,  emanating  from  a  highly  respectable 
source,  was  told  of  this  bishop,  which  sheds  some  light  upon  the 
condition  of  the  Irish  Episcopal  Church  during  the  school-boy 
days  of  William  Sparrow,  at  Enniscorthy.  The  bishop  and  his 
son  were  in  Dublin  during  the  anniversary  week  of  the  Irish  great 
Evangelical  societies.  As  Captain  Burke  passed  the  Rotunda  of 
Sackville  street,  he  noticed  in  front  of  it  a  long  row  of  carriages, 
and  on  his  return  home  inquired  of  his  father  what  it  meant.  The 
bishop  replied  that  it  was  a  meeting  of  religiously  frenzied  and 
fanatical  people.  The  son  said  that  it  must  be  a  respectable 
assemblage,  for  he  noticed  some  coronets  upon  the  carriages,  and 
that  he  would  go  and  see  what  it  was.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Singer,  a 
senior  fellow  of  Trinity  College,  who  has  since  died  Bishop  of 
Meath,  was  speaking  when  the  Captain  entered  the  Rotunda.  The 
latter  was  struck  with  the  respectability  of  the  assembly ;  but  his 
attention  was  arrested  and  riveted  by  the  speaker.  He  returned 
to  his  home  with  new  views,  under  deep  convictions  of  sin,  deeply 
depressed  and  thoroughly  wretched.  The  case  was  entirely  new 
to  the  father.  He  became  alarmed  for  his  son,  feared  madness 
in  his  case,  and  sent  hurriedly  for  his  family  physician.  The 
physician  represented  to  the  father  that  nothing  but  religious 
anxiety  was  the  matter  with  his  son,  and  advised  that  Rev.  Dr. 
Singer  should  be  sent  for.  This  the  bishop,  after  great  opposition, 
was  prevailed  upon  to  do.  The  son  soon  found  peace  in  believing, 
and  became  known  as  an  active,  winning,  and  effective  co-worker 
in  the  revival  of  the  spiritual  life  of  the  Church.  The  conversion 


WILLIAM     SPARRO  W,    D.    D.  29 

of  such  men,  and  of  whole  families,  was  a  common  event  in  all  the 
Irish  dioceses,  in  Dr.  Sparrow's  boyhood.  The  reading  and 
preaching  of  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  in  the  Irish  pulpit,  was 
attended,  at  the  time,  with  a  mighty  power,  and  it  could  hardly  be 
otherwise  but  that  William  Sparrow,  in  his  mature  boyhood, 
became  a  subject  of  gracious  and  heavenly  influence,  and  with 
renewed  heart  received  the  laying  on  of  hands  in  Confirmation.  I 
will  simply  add  of  Bishop  Burke,  that  he  became  reconciled  to  the 
new  views  of  his  son.  A  secretary  of  the  Irish  Church  Missionary 
Society  informed  me  that  the  bishop  had  invited  him  to  preach  in 
the  Cathedral,  in  behalf  of  the  Society,  an  evidence  of  the  happy 
influence  of  the  bishop's  son. 

"  That  Doctor  Sparrow's  early  religious  instruction  was  particu- 
larly Evangelical  and  discriminating,  and  that  his  sympathies  in 
youthful  manhood  were  ardently  with  those  known  in  his  day  as 
the  Evangelical  clergy,  is  very  evident  from  the  fact,  upon  which  he 
often  dwelt  in  conversation,  of  his  enjoyment  of  the  services  at  St. 
George's,  in  New  York,  and  particularly  of  Dr.  Milnor's  Wednes- 
day evening  lectures  and  services,  while  he  was  a  student  of 
Columbia  College,  although  he  was  personally  unknown  to  the 
Doctor,  and  a  stranger  to  every  one  present.  When  I  last  lectured 
for  Doctor  Milnor,  at  the  lecture  room  of  old  St.  George's,  I 
thought  of  the  youthful  stranger  and  student,  who  had  there,  a  few 
years  before,  without  any  human  sympathy,  enjoyed  the  holy 
influences  for  which  that  sacred  room  had  so  often  been  remarkable. 

"  As  to  Dr.  Sparrow's  parents,  I  knew  his  father  quite  intimately, 
but  I  never  saw  his  mother.  His  father  belonged  to  the  class 
styled  gentry,  in  Ireland,  and  was  very  respectably  connected.  He 
was  a  gentleman  of  vigorous  intellect,  of  extensive  reading, 
particularly  in  the  department  of  human  rights,  popular  and 
national  interests,  and  political  economy  ;  and  he  impressed  me  as 
one  well  qualified  to  advise  and  direct  in  the  education  of  his 
children.  In  my  earlier  and  later  preaching  tours  in  the  diocese 
of  Ohio,  I  occasionally  spent  a  Sunday  in  the  neighborhood  where 
Mr.  Sparrow  (the  father)  and  family  settled ;  and  I  occasionally  met 
with  ladies  who  had  known  the  family  intimately.  They  remem- 
bered Mrs.  Sparrow  with  great  interest  and  affection ;  spoke  of 
her  as  a  lady  of  great  refinement,  of  exquisite  grace  and  polish, 
and  of  most  lovely  and  winning  character ;  that,  at  first,  she 


30  MEMOIR    OF 

endured,  with  great  fortitude  and  resignation,  the  deprivations  of 
the  wilderness  and  the  pioneer  life,  but  at  last  her  health  failed 
under  its  hardships,  and  she  died,  beloved  and  lamented  by  the 
whole  community.  But  whether,  equally  with  her  sister  and 
eminently  useful  brother,  the  Rev.  Peter  Hoe,  whom  I  had  known, 
she  inherited  the  mental  energy  and  capacity  of  her  family,  I  have 
had  no  satisfactory  opportunity  of  learning.  And  yet  I  have 
never  doubted,  from  what  I  did  learn  of  the  mother,  that  her 
distinguished  son  owed,  under  God,  his  early  piety  and  subsequent 
greatness  to  her  influence. 

"  Very  affectionately,  yours  in  Christ, 

"JAMES  MCELROY." 


WILLIAMSPARROW,  D.  D.  31 


CHAPTEB    II. 

FROM   ARRIVAL   IN   AMERICA   TO  TIME  OF  ORDINATION. 

The  information  of  this  portion  of  our  narrative,  that  extending 
from  the  arrival  in  America  until  the  ordination  to  the  ministry 
of  its  subject,  from  1817  to  1826,  is  more  scant  than  any  other  with 
which  we  shall  be  occupied.  Soon  after  this  arrival,  we  find  his 
father's  family  at  Utica,  "Western  New  York.  In  this  city, 
or  more  properly  town,  at  that  time,  William,  then  only  in  his 
seventeenth  year,  as  mentioned  by  Dr.  McElroy,  under  some 
peculiar  stress  of  circumstances  in  the  affairs  of  the  institution, 
was  placed  in  charge  of  an  academy  of  some  considerable  size, 
and  carried  it  on  successfully;  at  first  alone,  and  afterward 
aided  by  an  associate.  The  special  vocation  of  his  life  was 
thus  entered  upon  at  a  very  early  period.  And  it  would 
seem  to  have  been  the  only  one,  in  some  of  its  forms,  either  from 
the  professorial  chair  or  from  the  pulpit,  in  which  he  was  ever 
engaged — that  of  a  teacher.  Some  of  the  facts  mentioned  above 
were  incidentally  imparted  by  himself,  and  as  illustrative  of  a 
point  upon  which  at  the  moment  he  was  insisting,  that  if  students, 
of  any  kind,  were  not  interested  in  their  studies,  the  defect  must 
be  largely  in  the  instructor.  He  evidently  regarded  himself  as 
having  succeeded,  in  this  difficult  post,  not  only  in  securing  the 
interest,  but  the  orderly  obedience  of  his  pupils.  Probably  an 
extract  from  a  letter  of  one  of  his  oldest  living  pupils,  not  in  Utica, 
but  in  Ohio,  a  few  years  afterward,  Rev.  Erastus  Burr,  D.D.,  will 
help,  not  only  to  explain  his  success  in  this  first  essay  as  an 
instructor,  but  also  to  show  that  there  was  little  deviation,  in  his 
subsequent  life,  from  the  course  then  adopted.  "  I  commenced  my 
studies  of  Latin,  Greek  and  mathematics  under  him,  and  have 
always  been  thankful  that  I  had  this  privilege.  He  laid  well  the 
best  foundations.  He  was  very  exacting,  and  yet  it  was  easier  to 
prepare,  and  I  felt  happier  in  preparing,  for  his  recitation,  than  for 
those  of  any  other.  There  was  no  let  off,  no  chance  of  shirking, 
and  the  good  hard  work  he  demanded  brought  its  reward." 

One  incident,  of  some  interest,  connected  with  his  first  position 


32  MEMOIKOF 

in  the  academy  at  Utica,  lie  alluded  to  in  after  life.  There  was 
doubtless  anxiety  and  solicitude  with  some  of  the  patrons,  whether 
there  was  not  risk  with  such  a  youthful  teacher,  whether  the 
effort  would  be  successful.  One  form  in  which  such  feeling 
found  expression,  was  in  the  prayer  of  the  Presbyterian  clergyman 
of  the  place,  on  the  first  Sunday  following,  for  divine  aid  and  sup- 
port in  behalf  of  the  youthful  instructor.  Whatever  its  effect  upon 
the  minds  of  others,  it  made  a  profound  impression,  when  told  of 
it,  upon  the  mind  of  him  for  whom  the  prayer  was  offered. 
Looking  over  the  course  thus  begun,  and  thinking  of  it,  as  it  went 
on  for  the  fifty-five  or  six  years  following,  of  the  Divine  blessing 
and  success  connected  with  it,  was  ever  prayer  more  abundantly 
answered  ? 

The  work  of  this  position,  however,  was  only  temporary,  not 
more  than  a  session  and  a  half,  perhaps  only  one  session.  In  the 
year  1819  he  entered  Columbia  College,  where'  he  seems  to  have 
remained  during  the  sessions  1819-20,  and  1820-21.  During  this 
time,  his  father,  in  the  year  1820,  with  his  family,  consisting  now 
of  four  children,  including  William,  moved  from  Utica  to  Huron 
county,  Ohio.  William  continued  at  college  until  1821  or  1822, 
when  he  rejoined  the  family  in  Ohio.  During  this  interval,  and 
it  would  seem,  in  his  absence,  the  home  circle  was  broken,  by  the 
death  of  his  mother,  in  Ohio,  in  1821.  Whether  this  event  had 
any  connection  with  the  close  of  his  college  life,  does  not  appear. 
Very  soon  after  it  he  joined  the  rest  of  the  family,  and  we  may 
easily  imagine,  under  the  circumstances,  the  sadness  and  tender- 
ness of  their  meeting. 

At  Columbia  College,  as  indicative  of  the  doctrinal  and  ecclesias- 
tical preferences  of  the  young  student,  we  have  seen  that  he  was 
an  attendant  upon  the  ministry  of  the  Kev.  Dr.  Milnor.  He  would, 
from  him,  hear  the  same  Evangelical  truths  which  gave  power  and 
unction  to  the  preaching  of  his  uncle,  Mr.  Koe,  in  Ireland.  He 
was  thus  unconsciously  systematizing,  and  confirming  in  his  own 
mind  the  doctrinal  truths  and  principles  which,  in  after  life,  con- 
trolled his  own  thinking  and  action.  Of  the  ministry  of  Dr.  Milnor 
he  had,  in  subsequent  life,  the  highest  estimate,  looking  back 
gratefully  to  his  youthful  attendance  upon  it,  especially  that 
portion  of  it  constituting  his  weekly  lectures. 

The  intellectual  portion  of  this  period  was,  doubtless,  faithfully 
improved.  The  experience  of  the  previous  year  in  Utica  had  mani- 


W  I  L  L  I  A  M     S  P  A  R  R  0  W,    D.  D.  33 

fested  the  power  of  knowledge,  had,  doubtless,  at  the  same  time, 
revealed  many  deficiencies,  the  importance  of  more  extensive  and 
thorough  attainment,  of  broader  and  deeper  cultivation.  Of  one  of 
his  instructors,  Dr.  Charles  Anthon,  he  was  accustomed  to  speak 
in  terms  of  grateful  appreciation.  The  interest  increased,  if  not 
excited,  through  his  instructions  in  the  Greek  language  and  litera- 
ture became  a  permanent  one,  and  to  the  close  of  life  a  source  of 
pleasure.  Only  a  few  years  before  his  death,  the  tutor  in  the  pre- 
paratory department  of  the  Seminary  was,  from  sickness,  unable ^to 
meet  his  classes,  and  for  several  weeks  Dr.  Sparrow  took  the  class 
in  Greek,  greatly  to  the  delight  of  the  students,  some  of  whom 
spoke  of  the  peculiar  interest  which  his  instruction  had  excited  in 
their  studies.  In  this  department,  as  in  that  of  mathematics,  his 
anxiety  and  effort  was  more  with  reference  to  the  quality  than  the 
quantity  demanded  from  the  student ;  on  the  principle  that  if  the 
quality  were  properly  insisted  upon,  in  its  proper  place,  the  quantity 
would  not  be  deficient.  The  allusion  to  his  mathematical  training, 
in  the  previous  chapter,  will  be  remembered ;  and  his  effort  was  to 
carry  out,  as  far  as  possible,  the  same  kind  of  instruction  in 
languages.  To  use  a  distinction  made  by  him  elsewhere,  the 
student,  under  this  severe  yet  bracing  discipline,  found  out  the 
difference  between  merely  understanding  and  thoroughly  possessing 
the  material  of  his  information. 

What  terminated  his  college  life,  whether,  indeed,  it  went  beyond 
the  close  of  the  second  session,  no  materials  are  attainable  for 
ascertaining.  In  1822  he  rejoined  his  father's  family  in  Ohio,  and 
after  remaining  there  a  few  months  went  with  his  younger  brother, 
Edward,  to  Worthington,  where  Bishop  Chase  was  then  living. 
The  bishop,  at  this  time,  in  addition  to  his  Episcopal  duties,  had 
pastoral  charge  of  the  church  at  Worthington,  having  connection 
also  with  a  classical  school,  carried  on  by  his  son,  Rev.  Philander 
Chase,  Jr.  Mr.  Sparrow  became  a  teacher,  for  a  short  time,  in 
this  school,  and  an  inmate  in  the  bishop's  family.  About  the  same 
time,  also,  we  find  the  name  of  his  father,  Samuel  Sparrow,  as  a 
lay  delegate  in  the  diocesan  convention.  One  of  Mr.  Sparrow's 
pupils,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Erastus  Burr,  of  Portsmouth,  Ohio,  still 
survives ;  and  his  language  has  already  been  quoted,  as  exhibiting 
his  youthful  teacher's  mode  of  instruction.  His  reputation  as  a 
teacher  and  manager  of  a  school,  based  upon  his  success  at  Utica, 
it  seems,  had  preceded  him,  and  his  pupil  tells  us  that  he  was  the 
3 


34  MEMOIROP 

same  unassuming  yet  dignified  gentleman  then,  that  he  was  ever 
afterward.  "  It  was,"  says  he,  "  a  matter  of  talk  with  us  boys, 
that  so  young  a  man  could  be  capable  of  teaching  and  managing  in 
an  academy.  I  was  too  young  to  have  much  knowledge  of  his 
religious  life.  He  seemed  to  me  to  be  a  man  of  uncommon 
sobriety  of  mind  and  manners.  I  cannot  remember  him  as  different, 
in  this  respect,  at  twenty-one,  from  what  he  was  at  thirty  or  forty. 
He  seemed  the  same  dignified,  serious,  Christian  gentleman  that 
he  appeared  in  later  life.  I  think,"  says  he,  "  that  Dr.  Sparrow 
was  more  cheerful  and  hopeful  in  early  life  than  he  seemed 
afterward.  Perhaps  this "  want  of  cheerfulness  latterly  "  was 
owing,  in  good  part,  to  ill  health,  and  the  near  prospect  in  which 
he  lived,  of  being  soon  called  away.  Perhaps,  also,  to  a  habit  of 
self  depreciation,  to  which  he  gave  way.  He  always  put  a  low 
price  on  himself  and  his  work."  An  extract  from  a  letter,  written 
many  years  afterward,  to  this  his  old  friend  and  pupil,  will  not 
only  throw  light  upon  his  feelings  and  expectations  at  an  earlier 
period,  but  also  upon  the  spirit  in  which  those  feelings  and  expecta- 
tions were  remembered  :  "  You  hint  at  old  times.  It  struck  a 
chord  deep  down  in  my  heart.  Your  letter  just  came  as  I  was 
entering  upon  my  seventieth  year.  Oh  how  long  a  life,  and  how 
little  to  show  as  the  result !  How  long  a  life,  too,  for  one  so  feeble 
and  frail !  For  twenty  years  after  you  and  I  first  met  I  never 
dreamed  it  possible  I  should  attain  such  an  age.  And  yet  how 
many  of  my  contemporaries  have  I  seen  pass  away  !  I  begin  to 
feel  quite  lonely  in  the  world,  in  that  regard.  In  Ohio,  where  I 
was  familiar  with  and  to  so  many,  I  am  unknowing  and  unknown. 
Even  here,  two  of  those  who  were  my  colleagues  in  this  Institu- 
tion have  been  taken,  whilst  I  have  been  left;  and  of  other 
acquaintances,  multitudes.  Thanks  be  to  God,  Christ  is  always 
with  us,  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever." 

It  is  to  be  observed,  in  passing,  as  will  appear  more  fully 
hereafter,  that  the  twenty  years  thus  alluded  to,  including  the  life 
in  Ohio,  were  years  of  overwork,  largely  of  perplexing  work,  at 
times  a  work  of  strife;  and  that  feeble  health  and  occasional 
depression  of  spirits,  were  the  natural  consequences.  Whether 
from  change  of  climate,  work,  or  circumstances,  there  was  a 
gradual  change  in  health  for  the  better,  after  his  arrival  in 
Virginia,  and  with  this,  increased  cheerfulness  and  geniality.  The 
Ohio  headaches  eventually  passed  away,  and  there  were  fewer 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  35 

recitations  lost  by  slight  ailments,  during  the  last  than  during  the 
first  five  years  of  his  residence  at  the  Virginia  Seminary. 

Within  the  year  of  his  arrival  at  "Worthington,  Mr.  Sparrow 
left  for  Cincinnati  College,  of  which  Bishop  Chase  had  been  elected 
President.  In  this  Institution  he  was  a  teacher  until  soon  after 
the  bishop,  in  the  autumn  of  1823,  went  to  England,  to  solicit  aid 
for  his  contemplated  theological  seminary  and  college.  This  latter 
event  seems  to  have  terminated  Mr.  Sparrow's  connection  with  the 
institution  at  Cincinnati,  and  we  find  him,  not  long  after,  a  tutor  at 
Miami  University.  His  attention,  meantime,  had  been  drawn  to 
the  work  of  the  ministry;  the  following  record  is  contained 
in  the  report  of  Bishop  Chase,  in  1824,  to  the  Convention  :  "  There 
are,  at  present,  two  candidates  for  Holy  Orders  in  this  diocese. 
Mr.  William  Sparrow,*  admitted  last  year,  and  Mr.  George  Roe, 
admitted  at  the  present  Convention.  Several  others,  cheered  with 
the  prospects  before  us,  are  prepared  to  enter  our  seminary  when 
established."  •  This  was  the  seminary  in  prospect,  for  which  the 
means  of  erection  had  just  been  secured,  in  which  the  interests  of 
one  of  the  candidates  thus  mentioned  would  be  so  largely 
connected,  and  for  the  advancement  of  which  his  energies  would 
be  so  largely  devoted.  At  this  same  Convention,  in  Chillicothe, 
1824,  and  in  that  of  the  next  year,  1825,  at  Zanesville,  Mr.  William 
Sparrow  appears  as  lay  delegate,  from  St.  Matthew's  Church, 
Hamilton.  No  connection  of  his  name  with  committees,  or  with 
action  having  reference  to  the  proposed  seminary,  is  found  in  the 
journal.  In  the  appendix  of  the  journal  of  1825,  he  appears  as 
Secretary  of  the  Diocesan  Missionary  Society. 

During  this  time,  that  is,  the  interval  between  his  departure  from 
Cincinnati  and  his  second  residence  at  Worthington,  he  was 
occupied,  first  as  teacher  of  Latin  and  Greek  at  Miami  University, 
and  subsequently,  at  the  close  of  his  first  six  months'  residence 
there,  was  elected  full  professor.  The  argument  used  with  him,  by 
Bishop  Chase,  for  leaving  this  position  and  taking  the  less  desirable 
one  at  Worthington,  at  nearly  one-third  less  salary,  was  that  of 
duty  to  the  Church ;  that  "  no  young  man  could  then  be  found  in 

*  One  little  incident,  occurring  during  the  candidateship  of  Mr.  Sparrow,  he  more 
than  once  alluded  to  afterwards,  as  illustrative  of  a  certain  mode  of  dealing  with 
doctrinal  difficulties.  It  seems  that  he  was  perplexed  with  portions  of  the  Baptismal 
Service,  and  went  to  a  clergyman,  a  Doctor  of  Divinity,  for  relief.  "  O,  Mr.  Sparrow," 
was  the  reply,  "  you  will  get  rid  of  all  these  difficulties  when  you  get  into  the  Min- 
istry!" 


36  MEMOIROF 

Ohio,  in  the  Episcopal  Church,  to  fill  the  station,  and  that  the 
Institution  was  too  poor  to  call  one  from  the  East."  To  this 
argument  he  yielded,  at  the  sacrifice,  as  we  have  seen,  of  income, 
and  also  of  comfort.  It  was  passing  from  a  well-founded  institu- 
tion, with  comparatively  light  duty,  to  the  drudgery  of  seven  or 
eight  hours  of  daily  teaching,  in  what  was  little  more  than  a 
grammar  school.  The  position  was  accepted,  and  the  following  note 
of  entrance  upon  its  duties,  appears  in  the  report  of  Bishop  Chase, 
in  the  journal :  "  Authorized  by  the  Board  of  Trustees,  which  met 
immediately  after  the  Convention  of  last  year,  in  Zanesville,  I 
appointed  Mr.  William  Sparrow,  late  Professor  in  the  Miami 
University,  Professor  of  the  languages  in  this  Institution,  and 
also  to  the  duty',  for  the  present,  of  Professor  of  mathematics  ;  and 
Mr.  Gideon  McMillan  a  teacher  of  the  grammar  school.  Two 
small  buildings,  very  temporary  in  their  nature,  were  erected,  at 
my  own  expense,  which,  together  with  my  own  dwelling  and  farm 
house,  we  thought  would  accommodate  all  the  students  that  would 
offer  this  year.  But  we  have  found  it  otherwise.  Our  present 
number  is  thirty,  and  had  we  buildings  and  other  means  to  enlarge 
our  establishment,  that  number  would  be  doubled  many  times." 

From  the  statement  thus  made,  some  conception  may  be  obtained 
of  the  nature  of  the  undertaking  thus  entered  upon  at  Worthing- 
ton.  It  was,  in  prospect,  essentially  and  primarily  a  theological 
seminary.  Incidentally  and  secondarily  to  this,  and  also  like  it,  in 
prospect,  was  a  college,  in  which  the  usual  course  of  classical  and 
scientific  studies  could  be  pursued,  but  still,  in  some  mode,  included 
in  the  seminary,  or  subordinate  to  it.  As  a  beginning,  however,  to 
these  contemplated  results,  and  as  an  actual  fact,  there  was  a 
classical  school,  in  which  pupils  of  all  kinds,  candidates  for  the 
ministry  included,  could  receive  instruction,  and  where  the 
latter,  as  they  might  increase,  and  need  it,  could  be  aided  in  their 
theological  studies.  The  predominant  idea,  however,  with  Bishop 
Chase,  and  his  friends  and  contributors,  as  of  the  diocesan  conven- 
tion, with  reference  to  the  new  institution,  was  that  of  a  theological 
seminary ;  an  institution  to  provide  for  a  supply,  in  the  opening 
West,  of  a  properly  prepared  ministry.  With  the  subsequent 
difficulties  in  the  working  out  of  this  theory  we  are  not  here  or 
elsewhere  concerned,  except  so  far  as  they  come  directly  in  connec- 
tion with  our  object.  But  it  is  important,  just  here,  to  have  a 
definite  view  of  the  nature  of  the  undertaking  entered  upon ;  of 


WILLIAM     SPARRO  W,    D.  D.  37 

what  seems  to  have  been  the  peculiar  interest,  both  of  Bishop 
Chase  and  of  Mr.  Sparrow,  in  that  undertaking.  As  the  latter 
himself  distinctly  stated,  at  a  later  period,  it  was  a  matter,  with 
him,  not  of  interest,  but  of  pecuniary  sacrifice ;  not  of  comfort  or 
ease,  but  of  increased  and  unpleasant  labor ;  not  of  inclination,  but 
of  a  sense  of  duty,  to  meet  an  existing  want,  and  to  make 
provision  for  its  removal. 

Included  within  this  plan  already  described,  and  one  in  which 
Mr.  Sparrow  felt  the  deepest  interest,  as  appears  from  portions  of 
his  subsequent  correspondence,  was  that  of  providing  a  collegiate 
education  for  the  sons  of  farmers  and  settlers,  at  a  moderate  rate; 
one  which  would  enable  these  classes  to  avail  themselves  of  the 
benefits  of  the  Institution.  We  shall  find,  at  a  later  date,  that  he 
resisted  a  new  and  moue  expensive  style  of  living  and  doing,  as 
tending  to  defeat  the  original  design  with  which  the  Institution 
was  established.  It  was  but  one  of  many  instances  of  that  practi- 
cal wisdom,  in  which  he  was  so  pre-eminent,  to  look  for  and  insist 
upon  tangible  beneficial  results,  rather  than  appearances. 

When  Mr.  Sparrow  entered  upon  his  duties  at  Worthington  he 
was  still  a  candidate  for  the  ministry.  His  ordination  took  place 
the  year  following,  at  the  Convention  in  Columbus,  Wednesday, 
June  7th,  1826,  when  he  was  ordained  Deacon;  and  on  Sunday, 
the  llth  of  the  same  month,  four  days  afterward,  at  Worthington, 
he  was  ordained  Presbyter.  The  record  in  each  case  is  as  follows  : 
"At  the  time  and  place,  agreeable  to  Constitution  and  adjourn- 
ment, the  Convention  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  in  the 
Diocese  of  Ohio,  assembled.  Morning  Service  was  performed  by 
the  Eev.  Intrepid  Morse,  and  after  an  address,  the  ordination  to 
the  Holy  Order  of  Deacons,  of  Messrs.  C.  P.  Bronson  and  William 
Sparrow,  who  were  presented  by  the  Kev.  Samuel  Johnston,  and 
the  administration  of  the  Communion  by  the  bishop,  the  following 
clergy  took  their  seats.  On  Sunday,  June  llth,  in  Worthington, 
Mr.  Gideon  McMillan  was  admitted,  by  Kev.  P.  Chase,  to  the  Holy 
Order  of  Deacons,  and  the  Eev.  William  Sparrow,  Deacon,  to  that 
of  Priests ;  the  former  presented  by  the  Eev.  J.  Hall,  the  latter  by 
the  Eev.  Intrepid  Morse." 

Of  this  Convention,  Mr.  Sparrow  was  elected  Secretary,  as  he 
was,  also,  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Institution 
with  which  he  was  connected. 

His  ministerial  work,  additional  to  that  in  the  Institution,  for 

448339 


38  MEMOIR    OF 

this  first  year,  is  thus  reported:  "The  Kev.  William  Sparrow 
reports,  that  from  the  time  of  his  ordination,  last  Convention,  till 
Christmas,  he  continued  to  preach  every  Sabbath,  devoting  one- third 
of  that  period  to  Columbus,  another  to  Worthington,  and  dividing 
the  remainder  between  Delaware  and  Berkshire,  excepting  one 
Sunday  spent,  by  invitation,  in  Eushville.  Since  Christmas  he  has 
been  prevented,  by  his  official  duties  in  the  Literary  Institution 
of  the  Diocese,  and  rather  infirm  health,  from  officiating  more  than 
seven  weeks  this  summer.  In  Kushville  he  baptized  one  child ; 
in  Columbus  two;  in  Worthington  six;  and  administered  the  Com- 
munion three  times.  Of  the  spiritual  condition  of  the  parishes  in 
which  he  has  preached  he  cannot  speak  from  personal  knowledge, 
not  having  had  time  for  parochial  visitations ;  but  if  kindness  and 
liberality  to  himself  be  any  proof  of  their  receiving  the  truth  in 
the  love  thereof,  that  proof  has  been  abundantly  afforded.  The 
people  in  Berkshire  are  contemplating  to  erect  a  church  as  soon 
as  possible;  and  they  in  Worthington  are  actually  engaged  in  the 
pious  undertaking.  Heaven  smile  upon  the  effort,  and  grant  that 
while  thus  occupied  in  building  the  house  of  the  Lord,  they  may 
themselves  l  be  builded  together  for  a  habitation  of  God,  through 
the  Spirit.'" 

His  more  especial  work  in  the  Institution,  during  this  and  the 
few  years  following,  will  form  the  material  of  the  next  chapter. 


WILLIAM    SPARRO  W,   D.  D.  39 


CHAPTER    III. 

FIRST   YEARS  AT  WORTHINGTON   AND   GAMBIER. 

The  nature  of  that  work,  to  some  degree,  has  already  been 
indicated  in  the  description  of  the  character  of  the  Institution. 
It  was,  first,  to  bring  an  existing  grammar-school  up  to  the  position 
of  a  college;  at  the  same  time,  during  this  intermediate  stage, 
and  subsequently,  to  make  provision  for  candidates  for  the  minis- 
try; alike  for  their  preparatory,  classical,  and  scientific,  as  for  their 
subsequent  and  more  specific  theological  training.  This  undertak- 
ing, begun  at  "Worthington,  was  eventually  transferred,  in  1823, 
to  Gambier,  when  the  founding  of  Kenyon  College  was  fairly 
commenced.  For  the  first  four  years,  however,  the  work  in  both 
localities  was  substantially  the  same,  and  it  was  only  as  material 
was  prepared  in  the  training  of  the  school,  that  there  could  be  any- 
thing like  arrangement  of  college  classes.  For  the  first  session  or 
two,  therefore,  say  1826-1827,  and  1827-1828,  this  preparatory 
process  was  going  on.  Mr.  Sparrow,  during  this  period,  if  not  an 
actual  inmate  in  the  family  of  Bishop  Chase,  formed  part  of  the 
large  household  included  in  the  boarding  establishment  for  the 
school,  conducted  by  Mrs.  Chase.  Of  the  first  of  those  years  we 
have  no  specific  information,  beyond  the  brief  statement  of  Dr. 
Burr,  who  was  at  Worthington  when  Mr.  Sparrow  arrived.  "  I 
was,"  says  he,  "  a  pupil  of  his,  the  whole  time  of  his  occupancy  of 
the  Seminary,"  that  is  of  his  position  at  Worthington,  both  before 
and  after  his  residence  at  Cincinnati,  "and  before  his  return  from 
Miami  University.  I  was  one  of  a  few  pupils  gathered  by  Bishop 
Chase,  and  taught  by  him  until  Mr.  Sparrow  came.  I  commenced 
my  study  of  Latin,  Greek  and  mathematics  under  Mr.  Sparrow ; 
and  have  always  been  thankful  that  I  had  this  privilege.  I  recol- 
lect with  great  pleasure  a  kind  of  Bible  class  which  he  established 
for  a  Sunday  morning  exercise.  He  furnished  us  with  objections, 
written,  of  the  most  popular  objectors,  to  the  truths  of  the  Christian 
Scriptures,  and  expected  us  to  answer  them  in  the  best  manner  we 
could,  helping  us,  to  some  extent,  to  authorities,  but  leaving  much  to 
our  own  research.  I  cannot  estimate  how  much  benefit  this  was  to 
me.  He  led,  also,  a  class  in  history.  This  was  aside  from  regular 


40  MEMOIR     OF 

lessons,  and  entirely  voluntary.  At  Gambler  he  established  a  Bible 
class  for  the  many  artisans  and  other  workmen  there  employed. 
I  have  heard  some  of  them,  some  old  men,  speak  with  enthusiasm 
of  the  pleasure  and  profit  of  those  exercises." 

One  event  of  special  interest,  in  its  bearing  upon  the  whole  tenor 
of  his  subsequent  life,  demands  record  at  this  point.  This  was  his 
marriage  to  Miss  Frances  Ingraham,  on  the  13th  of  February, 
1827 ;  the  beginning  of  that  life  companionship  of  confiding  affec- 
tion, of  common  trial,  and  sorrow,  and  joy,  which  lasted  for  nearly 
half  a  century.  Of  one  who  was  so  much  to  the  subject  of  our 
biography,  and  for  his  whole  subsequent  career,  it  would  not  be 
proper  to  speak  in  only  a  passing  notice.  In  the  labors  and  painful 
responsibilities  of  his  position  she  proved  a  true  helpmeet,  and  her 
life  of  unselfish  devotion  to  her  husband  and  their  children  found 
its  desired  reward  in  their  comfort  and  welfare,  as  in  their  affection 
and  veneration.  It  was  her  effort  to  take  from  him  the  burden  of 
other  things — household  cares,  pecuniary  expenditures — so  as  to 
enable  him,  without  distraction,  to  go  forward  successfully  in  his 
own  peculiar  work  and  duties.  How  efficiently  and  cheerfully  this 
was  done  was  best  known  in  her  own  peculiar  circle — that  sacred 
inner  circle  where  her  retiring  and  diffident  nature  could  only  be 
fully  appreciated.  "  God  loveth  a  cheerful  giver,"  was  her  remark, 
as  expressive  of  the  spirit  in  which  she  herself,  and  her  household, 
should  consecrate  a  beloved  daughter  to  Christ's  work  among  the 
heathen.  The  spirit  of  this  remark  ran  through  her  whole  life  of 
loving  and  cheerful  exertion.  At  the  same  time,  while  thus  taking 
the  burden  in  these  respects,  she  was  his  adviser  and  sympathizing 
companion  in  matters  of  his  more  peculiar  walk,  those  more  purely 
literary  and  intellectual.  No  proper  estimate  of  Dr.  Sparrow's 
life  and  work,  beginning  at  Worthington  and  closing  in  Virginia, 
can  be  made  without  taking  into  account  that  of  this  his  companion, 
whom  God  gave  to  be  with  him  during  nearly  the  whole  of  its  per- 
formance. "  Mrs.  Sparrow,"  to  use  the  language  of  one  who  knew 
her  intimately  in  Ohio,  "  was  a  very  unselfish  woman.  By  reliev- 
ing the  doctor  of  every  possible  care,  she  enabled  him  to  devote  his 
time  to  his  literary  labors,  while  her  judgment  was  so  sound,  and 
her  intellect  so  cultivated,  that  she  was  his  counsellor  on  all 
matters.  As  a  wife  and  mother,  she  had  few  equals ;  and  I  feel 
safe  in  saying,  that  not  one  woman  in  ten  thousand  possessed  such 
a  variety  of  intelligence  as  she  did." 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  41 

* 

Miss  Ingraham  was  closely  related  to  Mrs.  Chase,  and  it  was 
probably  in  the  bishop's  family  that  the  acquaintanceship  was 
made,  and  the  subsequent  engagement  with  Mr.  Sparrow  took 
place.  Only  one  little  incident,  in  the  course  of  the  acquaintance- 
ship, related  by  the  doctor,  in  Mrs.  Sparrow's  presence,  many  years 
afterward,  is  at  our  disposal.  "We  were  traveling,"  said  he, 
"  Mrs.  Chase,  Miss  Ingraham,  and  myself,  in  a  carriage,  to  one  of 
the  towns  in  Ohio,  when  we  encountered  a  stream,  which  seemed  to 
be  too  much  swollen  for  fording.  Leaving  my  companions  in  the 
carriage,  I  went  over  to  a  man  who  was  working  in  a  field  near  by, 
and  asked  him,  '  can  I  ford  ?'  '  Yes,'  said  he,  looking  at  me,  and  I 
was  thinner  then,  and  looked  taller  than  I  do  now,  '  yes,  I  reckon 
you  can !' " 

During  the  year  after  his  marriage,  1828,  he  was  joined  in  his 
work  by  Mr.  Preston,  and  at  a  later  date,  by  Mr.  McElroy.  Their 
communications,  which  follow,  will  enable  us  more  fully  to  under- 
stand the  circumstances  and  peculiar  duties  of  Mr.  Sparrow  at  this 
time.  "  I  went,"  says  Mr.  Preston,  "  to  Worthington,  early  in 
1828,  to  teach  mathematics,  where  I  found  brothers  Sparrow  and 
'  Wing,  and  fifty  or  sixty  students,  about  half  of  them  in  college 
classes.  There  were  no  theological  students,  so  Mr.  Sparrow 
taught  the  classics  in  the  college.  He  was  a  very  warm  friend  and 
supporter  of  the  bishop,  and  stood  very  high  as  a  preacher.  I 
found  him  one  of  the  best  friends  I  have  ever  had,  alike  in  his 
capacity  as  a  scholar  and  adviser,  and  also  in  the  warmth  and 
cordiality  of  his  friendship.  He  was  one  of  the  most  faultless  men 
I  ever  knew ;  ever  seemed  to  feel  the  deepest  interest  in  the  success 
of  the  bishop  and  the  welfare  of  the  college.  I  graduated  at  Yale, 
and  I  confidently  say  that  I  found  no  officer  there  whom  I  thought 
his  equal,  in  his  capacity  to  teach  and  govern  young  men,  and  in 
the  good  influence  he  acquired  over  them." 

"  On  a  Sunday  morning  in  September,  1828,"  says  Dr.  McElroy, 
speaking  of  this  period,  "  I  reached  Mount  Vernon,  from  Sandusky, 
and  having  taken  a  room  at  the  principal  tavern  of  the  pleasant 
village  and  nascent  city  in  the  woods,  I  soon  learned  that  Professor 
Sparrow,  from  Gambier,  would,  that  afternoon,  at  three  o'clock, 
officiate  and  preach  in  the  Court  Koom.  The  information  was 
particularly  grateful,  for  I  had  a  letter  to  him,  from  the  Eector  of 
St.  Mary's,  Kilkenny,  Ireland,  the  Rev.  Peter  Eoe,  his  mother's 
brother,  with  whom  I  had  become  acquainted  at  my  home,  a  few 


42  MEMOIROF 

• 

miles  distant  from  his  residence,  and  through  whose  instrumentality 
I  had  come  to  cast  my  lot  with  Bishop  Chase  in  his  great  work.  I 
was  very  anxious  to  see  Professor  Sparrow.  His  uncle,  just 
mentioned,  who  was  a  leading  man  in  the  Church  of  Ireland,  and 
very  decidedly  of  the  school  of  Venn  and  Simeon,  had  shown  me 
Professor  Sparrow's  last  letter  to  him,  and  impressed  me  with  his 
very  exalted  views  of  the  capacity  and  excellence  of  his  nephew.  I 
expected,  therefore,  to  meet  with  no  ordinary  man.  When  I 
entered  the  Court  Eoom  the  service  had  already  commenced.  I 
was  somewhat  distracted  by  the  novelty  of  appearances.  The 
room  was  dingy,  the  clergyman  was  in  his  plain  citizen's  dress,  the 
congregation,  with  a  few  exceptions,  wore  a  very  unkempt  look ; 
few  had  prayer-books,  and  the  responses  were  feebly  rendered.  But 
the  earnestness  of  the  clergyman  soon  arrested  my  attention,  and 
brought  me  under  the  influence  of  his  fervor,  making  me  at  home 
amidst  the  strange  scene.  From  the  moment  the  text  was 
announced,  to  the  close  of  the  sermon,  the  attention  of  the  audience 
was  breathless  and  riveted.  I  had  seldom  or  ever  heard,  before, 
such  a  sermon;  so  able,  so  full  of  truth,  so  clear,  transparent, 
beautiful  and  impressive.  At  this  long  distance  of  time  the  whole 
scene  is  vividly  before  me ;  the  preacher,  with  his  sweet  and  distinct 
voice,  his  modest  yet  commanding  mien,  his  soft  yet  brilliant  and 
penetrating  eye,  his  gleaming  and  expressive  features,  and  his 
whole  countenance,  betimes,  one  brilliant  blaze  of  light. .  The 
congregation  were  enchained,  enrapt;  and  I  cannot  describe  my 
own  delight,  surprise,  astonishment,  and  gratitude  to  the  Great 
Head  of  the  Church,  that  among  the  pioneers  in  the  wilderness,  for 
Christ  and  His  work,  there  was  one  so  profound,  eloquent  and 
Evangelical. 

"  Professor  Sparrow,  was  at  this  time,  I  imagine,  about  twenty- 
eight  years  of  age ;  and  in  my  work  of  instruction  in  the  grammar 
school,  in  the  college,  and  to  a  class  in  the  theological  department, 
I  had  an  early  opportunity  of  judging  of  his  scholarship.  His 
learning  was  very  accurate,  and,  at  his  age,  I  think,  unusually 
extensive.  He  was  a  highly  respectable  general  scholar,  specially 
able,  even  at  that  early  age,  in  the  mental  and  moral  philosophies.  He 
had  thoroughly  mastered  every  able  book  on  those  subjects  that 
had,  at  the  time,  been  published ;  and  my  impression  was  that  he 
was  fully  equal  to  write,  on  either,  a  better  book  than  any  on  the 
subject  then  extant.  His  health  was  always  feeble,  and  he  seldom 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  43 

preached ;  but  when  it  was  by  some  means  noised  abroad  that  he 
was  to  occupy  the  chapel  pulpit  on  Sunday  morning,  there  was 
always,  from  Mount  Vernon  and  the'  adjacent  neighborhood,  a 
large  and  overcrowded  attendance.  Even  the  common  people  heard 
him  gladly.  Gambier,  at  that  time,  was  a  delightful  residence  for  a 
Churchman  who  loved  Christ  in  spirit  and  in  truth.  The  intel- 
lectual atmosphere  o£  the  college  was  pervaded  by  an  air  of  sweet 
and  warm  devotion ;  and  the  communion  of  saints  was  realized  there 
more  generally,  and  to  a  higher  extent,  than  it  is  usually  enjoyed 
among  us.  While  I  was  there  personally  resident,  there  were  one 
or  two  years  of  extraordinary  religious  attention  and  fervor,  during 
which  a  large  number  of  the  students  were  hopefully  born  of  God, 
making  large  accessions  to  our  ministry.  Professor  Sparrow  always 
tenderly  sympathized  with  all  such  revived  attention  to  religion. 
He  never  doubted  that  it  was  a  most  gracious  evidence  of  God's 
blessing  upon  the  devout  services  of  our  Church,  and  upon  the 
Word  preached  from  the  college  pulpit ;  and  he,  therefore,  always 
prayed  fervently  and  labored  earnestly  for  a  return  of  such  a 
blessed  season.  On  a  certain  occasion,  one  of  our  college  preachers 
repeated,  extemporaneously,  in  the  afternoon,  to  his  forest  congre- 
gation, the  sermon  which  he  had  preached  from  the  manuscript  at 
the  college  chapel  in  the  morning,  from  the  text,  '  Search  the 
Scriptures.'  He  had  usually  lively  attention  from  these  forest 
people,  but  upon  this  occasion  they  listened  with  restless  indiffer- 
ence. The  preacher  suddenly  stopped  and  inquired  of  each  person 
present  if  he  could  read,  and  had  a  Bible.  There  were  sixty 
married  people  present,  and  fifty-nine  reported  themselves  without 
Bibles  or  Testaments.  Professor  Sparrow  took  great  interest  in 
the  organization  of  a  college  Bible  Society,  auxiliary  to  the  American 
Bible  Society,  to  supply  this  destitution.  In  this  good  work  no 
one  was  more  deeply  interested  than  Bishop  Chase.  He  and 
Professor  Sparrow  devoted  themselves,  with  unflagging  interest,  to 
the  supply ;  and  I  often  noticed  the  Professor's  eyes  suffused  with 
tears,  as  our  college  colporteurs  reported  the  touching  instances  of 
gratitude  and  piety  which  they  met  in  the  cabins  in  the  forest. 
While  I  was  associated  with  him  his  relations  with  his  brother-in- 
law,  Bishop  Chase,  were  cordial  and  intimate.  He  always  held  of 
the  American  bishops,  as  Eyle  does  of  the  English,  that  they  have 
too  much  power ;  and  when  Bishop  Chase  claimed,  as  Bishop,  a  veto 
upon  the  acts  of  the  college  Faculty,  it  produced  painful  estrange- 


44  MEMOIR    OF 

ment.  Professor  Sparrow  was  ready  to  grant  to  the  bishop,  for  his 
own  life,  all  that  was  demanded,  if  it  could  be  arranged  that  his 
successor  should  not  inherit  the  veto  power ;  but  the  bishop  was 
honest  in  his  convictions,  and  the  alienation  continued. 

"  Bishop  Chase  had  the  valuable  faculty  of  an  unerring  judgment 
as  to  whom  he  could  use  with  the  best  effect,  in  laying  the  founda- 
tions of  the  Church  and  promoting  her  healthful  growth ;  and 
when  he  commenced  his  school  and  college  at  Worthington,  Mr. 
Sparrow  had  to  yield  to  his  urgency,  and  accept  the  Head  Master- 
ship of  the  whole  Institution.  He  had  spent  some  time,"  at  an 
earlier  period,  "  at  Cincinnati  College,  during  the  presidency  of 
Bishop  Chase;  was  a  communicant  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church,  and  looking  forward  to  the  ministry.  He  was,"  when 
appointed  to  the  mastership  at  Worthington,  "  Professor  of  Latin 
and  Greek  in  Miami  University,  admired  and  beloved  by  all  his 
associates,  a  great  favorite — as  I  subsequently  learned  from  the 
President,  the  late  Dr.  Bishop. — with  the  students  and  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  village,  and  had  a  very  competent  salary.  Bishop 
Chase  could  offer  him  but  little  pecuniary  inducement,  but  insisted 
that  it  was  his  duty  to  the  Church  that  he  should  resign  his 
Professorship  at  Miami,  and  join  him.  Mr.  Sparrow  yielded,  and 
never,  so  far  as  I  know,  regretted  the  financial  sacrifice  which,  in 
the  interests  of  the  Church,  he  thus  made.  The  community  at 
Worthington  was  originally  an  Episcopal  colony  from  Connecticut. 
They  had  erected,  a  spacious  church,  of  brick,  and  an  academy,  two 
stories  high,  of  the  same  material,  and  endowed  it  with  one 
hundred  and  fifty  or  two  hundred  acres  of  good  land,  conveniently 
and  very  favorably  situated.  The  situation  was  pleasant,  but  the 
bishop  changed  his  views  of  the  desirableness  of  the  locality  for 
the  college  and  theological  seminary,  and,  with  the  advice  of  the 
Convention,  purchased  a  large  tract  of  wild  lands ;  and  on  a  bold 
promontory,  jutting  into  the  narrow  and  picturesque  valley  of  the 
Kokosing,  within  five  miles  of  Mount  Vernon,  the  capital  of  Knox 
county,  decided  to  build  Kenyon  College.  He  erected  temporary 
buildings  for  his  family,  teachers,  and  scholars,  and  moved  all  to 
the  new  site,  three  or  four  months  before  I  joined  them.  I  found 
the  bishop  and  Professor  Sparrow,  with  their  families,  occupying  a 
double  one-story  log  cabin,  and  the  appearance  of  everything  as 
simple  and  primitive  as  can  well  be  imagined. 

"  The  bishop,"  says  Dr.  Fitch,  speaking  of  a  period  only  a  few 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  45 

months  later,  "  confined  himself  to  the  financial  interests  of  the 
college,  soliciting  funds,  clearing  grounds,  and  putting  up  buildings. 
Mrs.  Chase  kept  the  books,  and  attended  to  the  college  commons, 
and  the  personal  wants  and  comforts  of  the  younger  students.  Dr. 
Sparrow  had  been  Professor  of  languages,  the  Rev.  William 
Preston  tutor  of  mathematics.  When  I  came  I  took  the  depart- 
ment of  languages,  and  Dr.  Sparrow  devoted  himself  assiduously 
to  the  duties  of  the  theological  seminary.  His  great  mind  was 
devoted  to  the  intellectual  and  moral  culture  of  the  young  men. 
In  this  he  was  so  successful  that  he  won  the  hearts  and  the  admira- 
tion of  all ;  not  only  of  the  students  but  of  multitudes  who  visited 
the  college  and  heard  him  preach.  His  preaching  was  not  limited 
to  the  college  but  was  extended  to  Mount  Vernon,  Newark, 
Zanesville,  and  the  wide  circle  around.  Till  Bishop  Mcllvaine 
came,  no  one  could  hold  the  breathless  attention  of  an  audience  for 
a  whole  hour  or  more,  but  Dr.  Sparrow.  By  the  students  he  was 
held  in  the  same  estimation  at  Kenyon  as  he  has  been  since  at 
Alexandria.  All  who  came  under  his  training  believed  him  the 
most  competent  of  professors,  having  a  giant  intellect,  and  richly 
stored  mind,  and  a  pure  heart.  Bishop  Chase,"  while  at  Gambier, 
"  was  absolutely  head,  but  took  no  part  nor  seeming  interest  in  the 
college  as  an  institution  of  learning,  did  not  know  what  students 
were  taught,  nor  definitely  who  taught  them.  He  presided  at 
commencements.  Dr.  Sparrow,  as  senior  professor,  presided  in 
Faculty  meetings,  and  was  to  the  students  what  they  looked  for  in 
the  head  of  the  college.  They  had  confidence  in  him  and  revered 
him." 

These  brief  quotations  give  some  idea  of  the  nature  of  Mr. 
Sparrow's  work,  and  of  the  peculiarity  of  his  relations  to  the 
seminary  and  college  during  the  period  of  his  connection  with 
them,  under  the  Episcopate  of  Bishop  Chase.  This  was  from  June, 
1825,  until  September,  1831,  when  the  bishop  resigned,  left  the 
diocese,  and  transferred  his  labors  to  what  was  then  the  missionary 
territory  of  Illinois.  That  resignation  grew  out  of  certain  issues 
connected  with  the  management  and  government  of  the  college  and 
seminary.  Deferring  all  notice  of  these  for  the  present,  we  would 
desire  to  gather  up  everything  of  interest  connected  with  the 
subject  of  our  memoir  during  this  time,  and  in  this  his  first  position 
of  importance.  That  position,  as  we  have  seen,  was  one  of  great 
labor  and  responsibility;  and  in  self-defence,  on  one  occasion,  he 


46  MEMOIKOF 

mentions  the  inducements  urged  to  enter  upon  it  in  the  beginning. 
The  mere  labor  of  teaching,  at  first,  was  very  heavy,  and  the  sort 
of  material  with  which  the  work  began  was  anything  but  attractive, 
that  of  youths  to  be  prepared  for  the  classes  of  the,  as  yet  pros- 
pective, college.     As  the   mere   drudgery,  in   this   respect,  was 
lessened  by  the  addition  of  other  teachers,  and  the  college  began 
to  assume  shape  and  proportion,  so  the  additional  responsibility  of 
administration  and  government  went  on  to  increase.     He  had  to  do 
the  actual  work,  and  assume  the  responsibilities  of  the  head  of  an 
Institution,  whose  nominal   head   was   elsewhere   and   otherwise 
employed— making  Episcopal  visitations,  building  saw-mills,  putting 
up   college  buildings,  or  soliciting  funds   for  these   and   similar 
purposes.     The  peculiarity  of  this  arrangement,  in  its  very  nature, 
risked  complication  and   collision  from  the  beginning;  conflict  of 
authority  between  the  actual  and  the  universal  governing  power. 
There  were  other  difficulties,  also,  connected  with  the  position,  as 
mediate  between  the  bishop  and  the  other  professors,  and  the 
students  of  the  Institution.     These  difficulties,  in  the  course  of 
time,    made    their    actual    appearance;     and    were,    no    doubt, 
eventually,  a  source  of  great  regret  to  all  the  parties  concerned. 
But  prior  to  any  such  difficulty  of  a  serious  character,  there  was 
an    important  work,  in  which  Bishop  Chase  and   Mr.  Sparrow 
cordially  and    harmoniously   co-operated.     That  work    was   the 
foundation  of  Kenyon  college,  and  the  theological  seminary.   These 
Institutions,   if   they    have  not    fulfilled    the    promise  of    their 
incipiency,  say  from  1825  to  1841,  the  first  sixteen  years  of  their 
existence,  under  the  administration  of  their  first  vice  president, 
certainly  had  such  promise  then,  to  a  degree  most  flattering.     The 
manner  and  full  explanation  of  failure  in  the  fulfillment  of  that 
promise  do  not  lie  within  the  track  of  our  undertaking.     "We  may, 
however,  express  the  hope  in  passing,  of  a  brighter  and  more 
successful  future,  upon  the  efforts  and  labors  of  their  present 
guardians.     Our  object  now,  is  to  look  at  the  undertaking  as  it 
was,  during  those  earlier  years  of  which  we  have  been  speaking, 
and  with  which  our  task  is  now  occupied,  when  the  old  bishop,  and 
his  youthful  colleague,  in  their  respective  spheres,  wrought  together 
for  the  great  common  object  which  they  had  before  them — the 
building  up  of  an  Institution  of  theological  and  secular  learning, 
under  a  strong  religious  influence,  in  the  newly  opening  territory 
of  the  West,  and  for  the  benefit  of  Western  population.     "  Our 


W  I  L  L  I  A  M    S  P  A  R  R  0  W,    D.  D.  47 

design,"  says  Bishop  Chase,  in  1829,  "is  to  cherish  an  Institution 
of  Christian  education,  at  a  rate  of  unexampled  cheapness,  bringing 
science,  with  all  its  blessings,  within  the  reach  of  thousands  and 
tens  of  thousands  of  persons  who,  by  reason  of  their  straightened 
circumstances,  must  forever  remain  in  comparative  ignorance.  It 
is  to  teach  the  children  of  the  poor  to  become  school  masters,  to 
instruct  our  common  schools  throughout  the  vast  valley  of  the 
Mississippi.  It  is  to  teach  the  children  of  the  poor  to  rise,  by  their 
wisdom,  and  to  merit  the  stations  hitherto  occupied  by  the  rich;  to 
fill  our  pulpits,  to  sit  in  our  Senate  chambers,  and  in  our  seats  of 
justice,  and  to  secure,  in  the  best  possible  way,  the  liberties  of  our 
country.  This  is  the  object  of  the  institution  of  Kenyon  college. 
This  is  the  reason  of  our  unremitting  exertions  to  make  our  plan 
as  extensive  and  permanent  in  its  operation,  as  it  is  pure  in  its 
design." 

To  these  common  objects,  in  the  establishment  of  the  seminary 
and  college,  the  energies  of  these  two  chief  laborers  were  devoted; 
and  to  no  small  degree,  with  marked  success,  during  the  period 
with  which  we  are  now  engaged.  At  the  close  of  this  period,  1831, 
the  school  at  Worthington,  changed,  both  as  to  locality  and 
character,  had  become  the  college  at  Gambier.  A  college  Faculty, 
with  classes  in  college  studies,  and  a  grammar  school,  were  organized 
and  in  full  operation,  with  provision,  at  the  same  time,  for  theo- 
logical education  to  any  candidate  applying.  Bishop  Chase,  in  his 
report  to  the  Convention,  from  which  the  above  quotation  is  made, 
speaks  of  "the  number  of  students  as  ninety,  six  of  whom,  at  the 
Commencement  ensuing,  would  receive  their  degrees  of  A.  B., 
besides  several  who,  in  the  intermediate  time,  have  been  qualified 
as  teachers,  now  so  much  wanted  in  our  common  schools." 

Of  Mr.  Sparrow's  particular  part  of  this  work,  brief  intimations, 
in  the  extracts  of  Messrs.  Preston,  Fitch  and  McElroy,  have 
already  been  afforded.  His  work  of  teaching  and  government,  as 
thus  intimated,  was  connected  with  that  of  preaching,  and  to  these 
were  added,  after  a  few  years,  the  labor  of  editing  a  diocesan 
weekly,  "The  Gambier  Observer."  During  this  same  period,  we 
find  his  name  among  the  members  of  the  Standing  Committee,  as 
delegate  to  the  General  Convention,  and  as  secretary  to  the  Con- 
vention of  the  diocese.  His  relations  to  Bishop  Chase,  as  also, 
doubtless,  his  recognized  practical  wisdom  and  integrity,  made  him, 
in  many  cases,  the  bishop's  confidential  adviser.  And,  in  after  life, 


48  MEMOIROF 

lie  would  sometimes  speak  of  the  peculiar  cases  which  thus  came 
under  his  observation.     Some  of   his  pupils  of  those  later  years 
will,  perhaps,  remember  his  account  of  a  theological  examination 
at  which  he  was  present,  and  of  the  mode  in  which  a  candidate 
was  relieved  of  his  difficulty.     "  Mr.,"  was  the  question  of  the  bishop, 
"by  what  are  we  justified ;  by  works  or  by  faith?"     The  poor  man 
hesitated,  but  at  last  ventured  to  say,  "by  faith,"  but,  as  he  looked 
at  the  bishop,  and  looked  at  me,  his  heart  misgave  him,  and  he 
corrected  himself,  and  said  "by  works."     "By  neither,"  thundered 
the  bishop,  "but  by  both!"     The  Doctor's  account  of  the  peculiar 
episode,  at  this  time,  of  a  certain  George  Montgomery  West,  who, 
as  we  shall  see  further  on,  gained  the  bishop's  confidence,  and  was 
sent  to  England  to  make  collections,  and  came  back  claiming  the 
right  to  succeed  the  bishop   as   diocesan   of  Ohio,  was  no  less 
amusing.     "He  was,"  said  he,  speaking  of  West,  "a  man  of  the 
most  consummate  vanity,  as  to   his  pulpit  performances.     'That 
passage,  sir,'  he  would  say,  'that  passage  in  my  sermon,  when  I 
delivered  it,  the  whole  congregation  were  melted  to  tears — they 
could  not  help  it,  sir;  they  could  not  help  it.'  "     Not  unfrequently, 
also,  in  alluding  to  this  period,  was  he  in  the  habit  of  speaking  of 
the  impression  made  upon  persons  by  the  appearance  of  Bishop 
Chase.     He,  himself,  in  his  first  introduction  to  the  bishop,  had 
been  greatly  impressed  by  this  appearance.     "  He  was  not  in  at  the 
time  of  my  arrival ;  and  as,  waiting  for  him  in  his  study,  I  turned, 
hearing  his  approach,  I  thought,  as  my  eye  fell  upon  him,  he  was 
the  most  majestic  looking  man  I  had  ever  seen.     He  filled  the  whole 
door!"     In  connection  with  this,  he  mentioned  a  little  incident 
which  took  place  during  one  of  the  bishop's  visits  to  England.     It 
seems  that  in  making  collections  for  the  seminary  and  college,  the 
bishop  had  received  a  donation  from  a  noble  lady,  who,  in  some 
manner,  had  received  the  impression  that  Bishop  Chase  was  a 
person  of  very  diminutive  proportions.     Not  very  long  after,  as  it 
happened  to  be  made  convenient  to  do  so,  the  bishop,  in  person, 
made  his  acknowledgments  of  the  donation.     So  favorable  was  the 
impression,  both  of  presence  and  manner,  and,  perhaps,  of  a  fuller 
presentation  of  the  object,  that  the  donation  was  very  largely 
increased. 

Something  has  been  said,  already,  in  regard  to  Mr.  Sparrow's 
work,  in  the  way  of  preaching,  during  this  time,  and  a  report 
given  of  his  efforts,  in  this  respect,  during  the  first  year  of  his 


WILLIAM    SPAR RO  W,    D.  D.  49 

ministry.  Similar  reports  are  made  to  the  Conventions  of  1829, 
'30,  and  '31.  These  labors,  missionary  in  their  character,  extended 
over  a  large  surface,  but  seem  mainly  to  have  been  within  one  or 
two  days'  ride  of  the  college.  The  places  specified  in  the  report 
following  include  most  of  those  to  which  he  ministered,  although 
others,  Berkshire,  Chillicothe,  and  Perry,  in  earlier  reports,  are 
mentioned.  This,  of  1831,  the  last  made  under  the  administra- 
tion of  Bishop  Chase,  is  of  interest.  It  contains,  also,  an  intimation 
that  these  labors,  in  at  least  one  locality,  had  not  been  in  vain. 

"Rev.  William  Sparrow  reports  to  the  bishop,  that  since  the  last 
Convention,  he  has  preached  in  Gambier  thirteen  times,  in  Mount 
Vernon  eight  times,  in  Newark,  nine  times,  in  Delaware  six  times,  in 
Worthington  thrice,  in  Hanover,  Licking  county,  and  Boardman, 
twice  each,  in  Zanesville  and  Canfield  once  each.  He  has  admin- 
istered the  communion  once,  attended  two  funerals,  and  baptized 
thirteen  children. 

"The  Parish  of  St.  Paul's  Church,  Mount  Vernon,  has  gone  on 
most  vigorously,  in  the  erection  of  their  Church,  since  last  Conven- 
tion. The  building,  which  is  forty-five  by  sixty-five  feet,  with  a 
tower  ten  by  eighteen  feet,  and  a  basement  story,  is  expected  to  be 
ready  for  consecration  by  Sunday  next.  Considering  the  peculiar 
situation  of  this  parish,  that  their  number  is  so  small,  that  they 
have  been  so  recently  organized,  and  that  the  members  have  had 
the  privilege  of  attending  the  services  of  our  Church  but  once  a 
fortnight,  and  then  at  a  very  unseasonable  hour  of  the  day,  the 
erection  of  a  church  like  this  is  to  them  a  most  creditable  circum- 
stance, and  must  be  to  Episcopalians  generally  a  source  of 
gratification." 

It  was  in  meeting  these  engagements  that  the  long  horseback 
rides  were  taken,  of  which  he  often  spoke  in  after  life.  He  was 
thus,  too,  brought  in  contact  with  the  people,  and  came  to  under- 
stand their  character.  One  of  the  greatest  charms  of  intercourse 
with  Dr.  Sparrow,  was  his  rare  colloquial  power,  the  variety  of 
illustrative  incident  always  at  his  command,  and  this  very  largely 
drawn  from  his  own  experience  or  observation.  Much,  doubtless, 
of  this  was  gathered  during  these  preaching  tours  in  Ohio.  One 
of  those  rides,  for  a  whole  day,  was  with  the  author  of  a  work 
which  has  had  a  large  circulation,  "  The  Philosophy  of  the  Plan  of 
Salvation."  During  this  ride  the  argument  was  stated,  and  portions 
of  it  discussed  and  criticised.  Years  after,  when  objection  was 
4 


50  MEMOIR    OF 

taken,  in  his  presence,  against  a  certain  part  of  the  argument, 
"that  objection,"  says  he,  "I  made  to  it,  before  the  book  was 
written."  Whether  it  was  a  mere  roadside  acquaintanceship  which 
elicited  this  discussion,  or  one  of  longer  standing,  we  are  unable  to 
say;  more  probably,  however,  the  latter.  The  incident  is  not 
without  its  interest,  both  literary  and  personal. 

Two  or  three  other  little  incidents  of  this  period,  pleasantly  related 
by  himself,  will  not  be  without  their  interest.  "  I  was  traveling  to 
one  of  my  appointments,  when  I  came,  about  sunrise,  on  a  cool, 
frosty  morning,  to  quite  a  considerable  stream,  where  I  found 
a  man  waiting  for  an  opportunity  of  crossing.  He  begged  to 
be  allowed  to  get  up  behind  on  my  horse,  and  I,  after  some 
hesitation,  consented.  On  we  started.  But  before  we  got  over,  he 
became  alarmed,  and  in  his  fright  and  struggles,  we  were  both  pulled 
off  into  the  water.  The  poor  man  was  very  penitent;  but  I  had 
to  go  on  in  my  wet  clothing."  "It  was  my  lot,"  said  he,  on 
another  occasion,  "to  be  present  at  a  wedding,  where  the  parties 
were  my  personal  friends,  and  would  have  preferred  for  me  to 
perform  the  ceremony.  The  laws  of  Ohio,  however,  at  that  time, 
granted  licenses  to  clergymen  only  for  the  counties  in  which  they 
lived,  not,  as  in  Virginia,  for  the  whole  State.  So  a  Methodist  local 
preacher  had  to  be  sent  for.  He  came;  but  knowing,  as  he  did, 
why  he  was  called  in,  .seemed  to  feel  that  I  ought  not  to  be  slighted, 
and,  as  he  finished  the  ceremony,  he  added,  turning  to  me,  '  brother 
Sparrow,  if  you  have  any  word  of  exhortation  to  say,  say  on ! ' 
On  another  occasion,  I  was  requested  by  the  bridegroom,  before  the 
performance  of  the  ceremony,  'to  say  something  that  would  touch 
the  feelings."' 

"Brother  Sparrow,"  says  an  old  friend  and  brother  in  the  minis- 
try, speaking  of  this  period,  "  came  to  see  me,  and  preach  for  me. 
Sunday  morning  he  had  a  chill,  and  could  not  go  out.  What 
should  I  do!  So  new  in  the  ministry  and  no  preparation.  He' 
said,  'take  two  of  my  sermons,  and  preach  them;  you  are  entirely 
justified,  under  the  circumstances.'  I  did  so.  After  church,  a 
distinguished  lawyer  said  to  me,  Mr.  P.,  you  never  preached  so 
good  a  sermon  in  your  life !  which  was  very  true,  for  it  was  not 
mine;  but  I  mention  it  to  show  what  was  then  his  standing  as  a 
preacher." 

This  portion  of  Mr.  Sparrow's  ministry  is  of  interest,  as  that  in 
which,  perhaps,  the  largest  number  of  his  sermons  were  prepared. 


WILLIAM    SPARRO  W,    D.D.  51 

His  sermonizing,  indeed,  continued  until  the  close  of-  life.  But  it 
was  very  largely,  in  later  years,  in  the  way  of  reconstruction  and 
re-writing  of  earlier  sermons.  The  bulk  of  them  seem  to  have 
been  written  in  Ohio;  and  a  very  considerable  part  during  the 
first  four  or  five  years  of  his  ministry.  His  time  for  such  prepara- 
tion was  on  Saturday,  after  the  labor  of  the  week's  teaching  was 
finished ;  and  it  was  not  unfrequently  that  the  manuscript,  with  the 
ink  hardly  dry,  had  to  be  taken  to  the  place  of  preaching.  There 
seems  to  be  little  doubt  that  the  great  body  of  his  sermons, 
thoroughly  elaborated  as  they  are,  in  manner  and  matter,  were 
prepared  in  this  way.  Under  any  circumstances  prepared,  they 
are,  many  of  them,  wonderful  productions.  Specially  wonderful  are 
they,  in  view  of  the  facts  of  their  actual  preparation.  They  show 
marvelous  capacity  of  intellectual  concentration  and  continuity. 
But,  with  the  labor  of  the  week's  teaching  preceding,  and  the 
expenditure  of  nervous  energy  of  the  next  day's  delivery  from  the 
pulpit,  there  must  have  been  a  terrible  strain  upon  his  physical 
constitution.  We  are  not  surprised  to  be  told  that  while  he  was 
at  Gambier  he  was  in  such  delicate  health  -that  he  never  came  to 
the  door  without  a  red  bandana  handkerchief  on  his  head;  "that 
his  nervous  sensibility,"  at  one  time,  "was  so  great,  that  he  could 
not  trust  himself  with  the  government  of  the  students."  "He 
was,"  says  one  of  his  friends  of  that  period,  "so  genial,  so  inter- 
esting, so  perfect  in  mind  and  in  heart — all  but  his  poor,  suffer- 
ing body;  that  was  never  well."  "Not  lazy,  but  constitutionally 
tired,"  as  he  himself,  once  playfully  quoted  a  friend's  description 
of  his  physical  condition.  In  some  respects,  there  was  an  improve- 
ment of  health  after  his  removal  to  Virginia,  his  nervous  head- 
aches, from  which  he  had  been  a  great  sufferer,  almost  entirely  dis- 
appearing. But  it  is  not  at  all  improbable  that  the  delicate  health 
of  after  life  finds  a  great  deal  of  its  explanation  in  the  overwork  of 
the  first  ten  years  of  his  ministry.  His  power  and  popularity  as  a 
preacher,  at  this  time,  are  largely  attested  by  his  Ohio  contempora- 
ries, Drs.  Fitch,  McElroy,  Preston,  Allen,  and  Dyer.  The  sketch 
quoted  from  Dr.  McElroy,  would  very  well  describe  him,  after  he 
came  to  Virginia.  The  extemporaneous  power  which  he  increased 
greatly  after  leaving  Ohio,  gave  him  advantages  not  then  possessed. 
But  with  this  exception,  an  exception  rarely  exhibited  anywhere 
but  in  the  Seminary  chapel  and  prayer  hall,  there  was  but 
little  change.  It  is  remarkable,  that  a  capacity  so  thoroughly 


52  MEMOIR    OF 

acquired  and  mastered  in  the  lecture  room — that  of  exact  extempo- 
raneous expression — should  have  been  so  little  used  in  the  pulpit. 
When  thus  used,  however,  it  was  always  to  the  delight  and  gratifi- 
cation of  his  hearers.  Weary  listeners,  especially  uncultivated 
ones,  were  sometimes  to  be  found  under  the  delivery  of  his  manu- 
script sermons.  But  rarely,  if  ever,  was  this  the  case  with  any 
class,  under  his  extemporaneous  addresses. 

During  the  year  1829  his  duties  were  varied  by  a  visit  to  the 
North,  probably,  from  a  hint  in  one  of  his  letters,  with  reference  to 
the  interests  of  the  College  and  Seminary.  This  seems  to  have 
been  a  pleasant  episode,  and  successful,  to  a  certain  degree,  in  the 
attainment  of  the  object  had  in  view.  It  was  not  to  him  wholly 
satisfactory,  and  he  speaks  of  a  plan  of  his  own,  rather  than  that 
of  the  bishop  which  was  actually  tried,  and  the  preference  of 
which  to  his  own  he  regrets.  The  allusion  to  this  visit  is  con- 
tained in  a  letter  to  his  beloved  friend,  and  for  many  years  intimate 
associate  and  colleague,  Dr.  Wing.  This  constitutes  the  beginning, 
so  far  as  remains,  of  a  long  correspondence,  upon  which  we  shall 
draw  for  important  material  in  our  undertaking.  This,  written 
very  soon  after  reaching  home,  December  8th,  1829,  is  here  inserted. 
Three  others,  written  to  the  same  correspondent,  and  within  the 
next  six  months,  are  added.  They  help  to  throw  light  upon  the 
period  with  which  we  are  now  occupied,  as  also  they  help  to  exhibit 
the  spirit  and  work  of  the  writer. 

"GAMBIER,  December  8th,  1829. 
"  DEAR  BROTHER — 

"  So,  then,  you  felt  just  as  I  did.  I  don't  know  when  my  heart  was 
filled  with  such  mingled  feelings  of  surprise,  and  joy,  and  regret,  as 
at  the  moment  I  grasped  your  hand  between  this  and  Wooster. 
The  sight  of  you  was  cheering  to  my  heart;  but  then  the  sight  of 
my  eyes  was  so  soon  taken  from  me !  I  can  assure  you  we  spent 
the  remainder  of  our  way  home  in  idle  regrets  that  we  had  met 
only  to  part.  We  blamed  you,  we  blamed  ourselves,  and  we  blamed 
every  one  who  had  any  control  over  our  movements  after  we  had 
started  from  New  York,  when,  in  truth  and  reason,  perhaps,  nobody 
was  to  blame.  But  all  the  blame  I  may  have  heaped  upon  you 
did  not  prevent  my  heart  from  yearning  over  you,  and  my  spirit 
from  going  with  you,  and  my  thoughts  from  often,  since,  turning  to 
the  dearest  friend  I  have  ever  made  in  Christ.  Here  let  me  assure 


WILLIAM    SPARRO  W,    D.  D.  53 

you,  dear  brother,  we  have  remembered  you  at  the  throne  of  grace, 
and  expect,  in  time  to  come,  that  you  will  often  be  in  our  hearts 
and  tongues,  when  kneeling  before  our  little  family  altar.  And 
having  said  this,  may  I  ask  that  you  will  remember  us,  especially 
that  you  will  pray  the  Lord  in  my  behalf,  that  I  may  be  made 
equal  to  the  new  and  momentous  duties  now  devolving  on  me. 
Yesterday  morning,  for  the  first  time,  I  fully  realized  the  awful 
responsibility  of  my  station ;  and  when  I  compared  the  duties  to  be 
performed,  with  my  feebleness  as  a  Christian,  my  deficiencies  as  a 
scholar,  my  inferiority  in  point  of  talent,  the  corruptions  of  my  own 
heart,  the  wiles  of  Satan  (a  subject  I  have  lately  preached  upon), 
and  the  sophistries  of  talented  but  irreligious  men  to  be  unraveled, 
my  soul  seemed  sick  for  very  fear.  You,  I  doubt  not,  can  judge 
pretty  correctly  of  the  state  of  my  mind.  You  have  your  own 
overwhelming  cares  and  anxieties,  and  like  Moses  when  sent  to 
warn  Pharaoh,  and  to  deliver  God's  people  from  bondage,  you  are 
ready  to  say,  who  am  I  that  I  should  go?  Perhaps  you  are  ready 
to  adopt  these  words  of  his,  especially,  "0  my  Lord,  I  am  not 
eloquent,  neither  heretofore  nor  since  thou  hast  spoken  unto  thy 
servant,  but  I  am  slow  of  speech  and  of  a  slow  tongue."  But  you 
remember  the  answer  also.  God  grant  you  may  be  enabled  to 
exercise  faith  upon  it ;  and  what  I  ask  for  you  I  would  entreat  for 
myself.  One  thing  is  certain  to  my  mind,  faith  is  needed  more  than 
anything  else;  not  faith  in  this  particular  promise  merely,  but 
universal  faith,  which  will  bring  the  realities  of  eternity  close  to 
our  minds,  and  make  us  duly  feel  the  preciousness  of  immortal  souls. 
Of  this  truth  I  have  been  more  fully  convinced  than  ever.  Oh,  let 
us  pray,  dearest  brother,  each  for  the  other,  that  we  may  have  faith, 
and  every  other  grace  sufficient  to  our  day  and  duties. 

"  I  doubt  not  you  have  many  here  to  remember  you.  On  my 
arrival,  I  heard  much  said  about  your  departure,  indicative  of  no 
ordinary  feeling.  My  father,  amongst  the  rest,  though  you  did  not 
bid  him  good  bye,  joined  in  the  general  expression  of  regret  that 
you  had  left  us.  And  none,  I  believe,  have  such  selfish  regrets  as 
myself,  for  amongst  other  things,  I  have  to  lament  that  I  have  now 
no  friend  at  hand  to  whom  I  may  run  when  my  head  or  heart  is 
full,  and  pour  out  their  contents,  trifling  or  otherwise,  with  confiding 
frankness.  But  I  must  stop  this.  I  did  not  mean  to  waste  my 
paper  thus.  Immediately  after  my  arrival  here,  I  wrote  the  Bishop, 
proposing  that  Mr.  Kendrick  should  fill  my  place,  and  that  I  should 


54  MEMOIROF 

employ  the  year  to  come  in  preparation  to  teach  theology,  the  first 
half  of  the  time  to  be  spent  here,  and  the  second  wherever  I  please ; 
and  that  while  here,  I  should  give  religious  instruction  to  the 
college  classes  and  Grammar  school  students.  He  has  acceded  to 
the  plan,  and  yesterday  I  sat  myself  down  to  study,  grappling 
mightily  with  Hebrew  grammar.  Oh  that  you  were  here  to  hear 
me  recite ! 

"Mrs.  Chase  has  just  had  letters  from  England.  Mr.  West  is 
coming  out  in  April,  with  Mr.  Bates,  the  giver  of  the  £100  per 
annum,  for  ten  years.  Until  April  he  preaches  in  a  parish  in 
England.  Lord  Kenyon  also  thinks  of  coming  soon.  His  trip  to 
France,  to  see,  I  suppose,  how  he  would  like  the  Catholics  there, 
has  put  him  in  a  traveling  mood.  Mr.  Bates  is  going  to  purchase 
the  north  section,  and,  oh  sad !  to  fetch  out  settlers  with  him.  Our 
wandering  star,  S.,  has  just  paid  us  a  visit,  through  the  mud,  for 
the  purpose  of — seeing  and  being  seen.  Several  students  have 
come  on  since  my  arrival,  and  all  things  seem  to  be  going  on  well. 

"About  my  trip  I  have  many  things  to  say,  and  if  you  were 
here,  I  think  I  could  keep  you  awake  with  talk — noise  I  mean — till 
twelve  o'clock  to-night.  I  labored  under  many  disadvantages 
while  in  New  York,  yet,  on  the  whole,  the  trip  was  very  pleasant, 
and,  I  hope,  profitable.  Oh,  that  the  bishop  had  acceded  to  my 
first  plan — but  'what  is  said  can't  be  mended.' 

"The  Bishop  has  had  an  interview  with  Bishop  Brownell,  at  Cin- 
cinnati. From  Cincinnati  he  was  to  visit  Piqua,  and  then  take  his 
shortest  route  to  Washington.  From  Chillicothe  to  Portsmouth, 
guess  how  he  traveled — in  a  skiff!  a  new  Episcopal  conveyance; 
but  I  am  mistaken,  perhaps.  If  the  apostles  were  bishops,  don't 
you  think  Episcopal  visitation  has  often  been  performed  in  a  similar 
way?  By  the  way,  S.  has  written  and  published  two  verses  of  bad 
poetry,  on  a  card,  with  the  author's  name  attached,  to  be  used  at 

'week-day  service,'  in  the  Episcopal  Church,  at .     There  is 

no  choice  to  the  worshipers,  though  the  General  Convention  has 
furnished  new  hymns;  they  must  use  these  eight  lines,  if  for  no  other 
reason,  out  of  compliment  to  their  pastor !  '  Oh  my  country/  said 
the  despairing  patriot!  Mrs.  S.  joins  me  in  hearty  remembrances. 
"  Your  affectionate  friend  and  brother, 

"W.  SPARROW. 

"  P.  S. — You  see  I  have  written  a  large  sheet  full ;  do  you  the 
same,  and  tell  me  everything  about  yourself.  You  know  me  too 


WILLIAM    SPARRO  W,   D.  D.  55 

well  to  expect  I  would  correct  my  letters.     In  place  of  wrong  words 
you  must  substitute  right  ones.  "  W.  S." 

"GAMBIER,  March  12th,  1830. 
"DEAR  BROTHER — 

"As  my  paper  is  short,  I  will  hurry  'in  medias  res.'  A  fort- 
night after  I  received  yours,  I  was  induced  to  take  an  excursion, 
and  set  out  in  company  with  D.,  intending  to  visit  Chillicothe, 
but  owing  to  frequent  dyspeptic  headaches,  we  got  no  further  than 
Columbus.  P.,  whom  I  saw  in  my  journey,  seems  to  be  getting  on 
well  in  his  parish.  He  is  raising  up  a  few  of  like  mind  with  him- 
self, who  afford  him  some  comfort,  and  refresh  his  spirit  when 
dejected  at  the  character  and  disposition  of  the  old  stock.  If  he 
were  not  a  diligent  man  and  good  preacher,  and  if,  withal,  gospel 
truth  had  not  a  power,  which,  even  while  repelling  to  a  certain  dis- 
tance the  formal  and  irreligious,  at  the  same  time  attracts  them, 
and,  like  the  centripetal  force  in  astronomy,  keeps  them  from  going 
off  in  a  tangent,  he  could  not  maintain  himself  in  his  position.  They 
hate  his  Low-Churchmanship,  though  they  respect  the  man. 

"  But  I  must  be  more  brief,  or  I  cannot  give  you  the  items  of 
news.  Brannan  and  Samuel  Chase  have  undertaken  to  teach  a 
High  School  at  Newark.  The  people  in  Mount  Vernon  are  about 
building  a  church.  I  am  to  preach  upon  the  duty  of  so  doing  next 
Sunday  week ;  and  then  the  subscription  is  to  be  circulated.  They 
are  also  going  to  build  in  Columbus.  Lyster  is  to  leave  Cleveland 
in  May,  and  visit  Ireland,  to  return,  however,  to  Ohio.  Potter, 
Caswell,  and  Tillotson  Bronson  propose  to  go  as  missionaries  to  the 
heathen,  if  any  society  will  send  them.  By  their  request,  I  have 
been  corresponding  with  B.  B.  Smith,  Dr.  Milnor  and  the  Bishop, 
on  the  subject.  Dr.  Milnor  is  going  to  England,  to  attend  the 
British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society.  Since  I  wrote  the  last  sentence, 
a  Mr.  M.,  a  Scotch  clergyman,  has  arrived,  with  letters  to  the 
Bishop.  He  has  been  a  Presbyterian  minister,  and  wants  to  enter 
the  Church.  I  will,  perhaps,  have  more  to  say  of  him  in  the  next 
letter.  Just  now  I  have  to  take  him  over  the  college,  to  introduce 
him. 

"  I  lately  preached  a  sermon  on  Luke  ix,  49,  50,  a  copy  of  which 
the  students  requested  for  publication ;  of  course,  I  declined.  From 
the  text*  you  may  judge  of  the  subject,  and,  from  my  principles, 

* "  But  John  answered  and  said,  Master,  we  saw  one  casting  out  devils  in  thy 
name ;  and  we  forbade  him,  because  he  followeth  not  with  us.  And  Jesus  said  unto 
him,  forbid  him  not ;  for  he  that  is  not  against  us  is  for  us." 


56  MEMOIR  OP 

you  may  guess  how  I  handled  it.  I  go  to  Chillicothe  on  the  25th, 
to  attend  an  association.  If  I  should  feel  like  traveling,  on  my 
return,  I  may  visit  Boardman.  But  whether  so  or  no,  I  shall  not 
cease  to  remember  and  pray  for  my  dear  brother  who  lives  there. 

"W.  SPARROW." 

"GAMBIER,  May  14th,  1830. 

"REV.  AND  VERY  DEAR  BROTHER — 

"  To  be  sure,  my  last  letter  was  written  on  half  a  sheet,  but  if  I 
recollect  aright,  the  characters  were  small  and  the  lines  close;  you 
had  multum  in  parvo.  However,  I  believe  I  should  have  sent 
another  after  it  very  soon,  had  I  not  set  out,  about  that  time,  to 
attend  Bausman's  association.  Brother  Preston  and  I  were  the 
only  clergymen  there;  we  had  quite  an  interesting  time,  and  some 
good  was  done,  I  trust.  Since  that  time  I  have  attended  another, 
in  Delaware,  more  interesting  yet.  The  weather  being  much 
better,  the  congregations  were  very  large.  We  had  service  on 
Friday  evening;  on  Saturday,  at  ten  o'clock,  a  meeting  of  the 
communicants  in  the  church ;  at  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  an 
anniversary  meeting  of  the  Sunday  school.  Service  again  in  the 
evening.  Sunday  morning  a  meeting  of  the  communicants  at  Mr. 
L.'s  house,  and  then  the  regular  forenoon  and  afternoon  services, 
with  communion  and  baptisms.  On  Monday  evening  we  had  service 
in  Berkshire,  and  on  Tuesday,  Preston,  Hein,  Dennison,  and  myself, 
returned  to  Gambier. 

"The  Bishop,  you  know,  has  returned,  and  is  up  to  his  eyes  in 
business,  as  usual.  His  health,  however,  is  still  poor ;  I  am  afraid 
will  long  continue  so.  He  cannot  rest  at  night.  He  brought 
along  with  him  a  physician,  Dr.  Farnum,  who  is  also  to  act  as 
Professor  of  Chemistry.  He  is  highly  recommended,  and  is,  no 
doubt,  very  able  in  the  branches  he  professes.  We  have  now  120 
students,  and  they  are  coming  in  every  day.  Two  of  the  houses 
in  Gambier  have  been  remodeled  and  finished  for  their  accom- 
modation, and  the  carpenters  and  plasterers  are  about  to  take  hold 
of  a  third.  A  large  addition  has  also  been  made  to  the  store,  and 
the  frame  next  your  old  abode  has  been  finished  off  for  a  hotel ; 
for  you  must  know  we  have  a  daily  mail  stage  running  to  and  from 
Mount  Vernon,  William  Sparrow,  Stage  Proprietor!  Our 
periodical  will,  probably,  be  issued  in  two  weeks.  Could  you  not 
send  us  something  local  to  insert  in  the  first  number;  something,  I 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,    D.  D.  57 

mean,  connected  with  your  parish.  Anything  relating  to  this 
diocese  will  be  peculiarly  acceptable  at  all  times.  Sanford  has  got 
us  a  good  many  subscribers.  You  must  increase  your  list  by 
and  by. 

"I  was  pleased  and  thankful  you  had  a  refreshing  time  at  Easter. 
If  you  could  muster  courage,  I  should  think  it  would  be  a  most 
judicious  plan  to  call  the  communicants  together,  as  was  done  at 
Delaware,  the  morning  of  communion  day,  and  pray  and  sing  with 
them,  and  give  them  an  exhortation.  It  would,  undoubtedly,  be 
most  edifying  to  them,  and  refreshing  to  yourself. 

"I  have  lately  had  a  letter  from  E.  He  is  in  Natchez,  earning 
ninety  dollars  per  month,  as  clerk  to  a  court.  How  great  must  be 
the  risk  of  life,  where  he  could  promptly  procure  such  a  lucrative 
situation.  He  says  that  in  the  sickly  months  clerks  are  often  found 
dead  in  the  stores  in  the  morning,  having  been  seized  so  violently 
during  the  night  as  not  to  be  able  to  call  for  help.  This  surely 
must  be  the  plague. 

"  I  would  be  glad  to  know  how  your  folks  like  the  '  Gambier  Obser- 
ver,' and  much  more,  how  you  like  it  yourself.  Any  suggestion  you 
may  make  upon  the  subject  of  our  paper  will  be  most  thankfully 
received  and  maturely  weighed.  But  will  you  not  send  us  some 
communications.  Oh,  do  send  us  short  articles,  or  anything  you 
please,  especially  local  matter.  I  know  your  excuses;  but  they 
will  not  be  taken. 

"  Poor  Keene,  who  had  been  sick  so  long,  died  Saturday.  My 
belief  is,  he  is  gone  to  heaven.  The  Providence  will,  I  trust,  be 
blessed  to  some  of  the  students.  Mr.  Taylor,  on  Sunday  evening, 
at  their  prayer  meeting,  spoke  with  great  effect  upon  the  subject. 
At  our  last  communion  two  of  them  joined  the  church,  and  two 
others  were  put  upon  probation  till  another  season.  We  have  now 
about  one  hundred  and  thirty  in  good  health,  and,  I  think,  doing 
well.  The  bishop  is  very  feeble.  He  was  not  able  to  fulfill  the 
appointments  made  in  the  '  Observer,'  owing  to  another  injury  re- 
ceived in  his  leg  from  a  fall.  Though  he  is  going  about  continually, 
it  is  still  in  a  bad  state. 

"  The  corner-stone  of  a  church  was  laid  in  Mount  Vernon  last 
Thursday  week.  They  have  raised  twenty-five  hundred  dollars, 
and  have  contracted  with  Mr.  A.  to  build  it  for  $3650,  he  having 
a  lien  upon  the  unsold  pews  for  the  surplus  of  the  latter  over 
the  former  sum.  Bronson  laid  the  corner-stone.  None  of  us 


58  MEMOIR    OF 

attended.  S.  is  getting  up  very  fast.  He  preached  a  sermon  on 
Episcopacy  the  other  day,  which,  however,  Judge  P.  thought 
exceptionable.  But  it  is  no  more  than  I  long  ago  anticipated. 
In  the  present  state  of  the  Church,  with  all  the  influence  on  one 
side,  it  requires  both  a  spiritual  mind  and  a  sound  judgment  to 
persevere  in  a  steady  course.  Mrs.  S.  is  not  very  well.  She  is 
now  sitting  at  my  elbow,  and  desires,  in  all  sincerity  of  Christian 
friendship,  to  be  remembered  to  you.  I  must  be  excused  for  this 
scrawl.  I  write  in  haste,  in  languor  and  in  fever. 

"  Your  brother  in  Christ, 

"W.  SPARROW." 

Within  the  next  few  months,  there  came  up  two  disturbing 
issues,  which,  for  a  time,  were  productive,  to  Professor  Sparrow,  of 
great  anxiety  and  trial,  ending  in  a  controversy  with  the  bishop, 
of  a  most  painful  character.  The  first  of  these  was  the  West  diffi- 
culty. This  individual  has  already  been  alluded  to,  in  his  exhibitions 
of  inordinate  vanity.  It  would  seem,  however,  that  the  bishop  re- 
garded him  more  favorably  than  did  his  youthful  colleague;  and 
was  eventually  induced,  upon  his  representations  of  his  influence 
and  associations  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  to  send  him,  as  a 
special  agent,  to  obtain  contributions  for  the  College  and  Seminary. 
What  the  transaction  definitively  meant  to  the  bishop,  was  never 
very  clear,  as  the  subsequent  career  of  his  protege  rendered  it 
a  subject  upon  which  he  was  indisposed  to  enlarge.  But  so  it  was. 
When  West  started,  it  was  with  the  episcopal  blessing,  received  in 
the  last  interview,  and  with  the  laying  on  of  hands.  The  bishop, 
like  Mr.  Wesley,  when  he  parted  from  Dr.  Coke,  in  all  probabil- 
ity, only  meant  to  commend  his  agent  in  his  work,  and  in  the 
most  solemn  manner  possible,  to  the  Divine  blessing.  But  to  West, 
as  to  Coke,  it  meant,  or  it  was  construed  to  mean,  a  great  deal 
more — even  the  assured  succession  to  the  episcopate  of  Ohio. 
That  made  him  the  King  of  the  Romans;  and  in  due  time,  if  he 
lived  long  enough,  he  would  be  Emperor !  Big  with  these  hopes, 
West  took  his  departure,  and,  for  some  time  after  his  arrival  in 
England,  most  cheering  accounts  were  received  of  his  success.  At 
one  time  there  came  a  report  of  £50,000  secured  for  the  two 
Institutions,  from  English  noblemen  contributors,  who  were  coming 
over  to  visit  Gambier.  Some  of  these,  after  a  while,  were  found 
to  need  modification;  and  when  he  actually  returned,  it  was 


W  I  L  L  I  A  M    S  P  A  R  R  0  W,    D.  D.  59 

ascertained  that  the  proceeds  of  his  three  years'  mission,  so  far 
from  reaching  fifty,  did  not  exceed  one  thousand  pounds.  This, 
however,  in  his  own  estimation,  did  not  invalidate  his  semi-con- 
secration to  the  episcopate,  and  this,  his  expectation,  in  due  time, 
he  took  occasion  to  make  known.  The  allusion,  in  one  of  the 
letters  which  we  give,  to  the  scene  following,  of  which  the  writer 
seems  to  have  been  a  witness,  is  irresistibly  amusing;  although  the 
consequences  to  the  writer,  as  to  the  Institution,  for  some  time 
following,  were  anything  but  amusing — were  exceedingly  serious 
and  annoying.  West,  after  remaining  for  a  few  days,  posted  back 
to  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  and  so  succeeded,  in  the  former 
place,  in  exciting  suspicion  and  prejudice  against  the  bishop  and 
his  management  of  the  Institutions,  that  some  of  his  best  friends 
became  alienated,  and  the  fund  of  the  Milnor  professorship,  that 
of  Professor  Sparrow,  was  temporarily  endangered.  The  noble 
promptness  of  Dr.  Milnor  in  this  emergency,  and  the  gradual 
revelation  of  the  real  character  of  West  to  those  whom  he  had 
led  astray,  eventually  obviated  these  difficulties.  But  they  were 
very  serious,  as  they  were  experienced,  and  the  whole  episode  is  a 
most  singular  one.  West  afterward  attempted  to  start  a  church 
of  his  own,  perhaps,  to  enable  him  to  exercise  the  episcopal  gifts 
which  had  once  seemed  to  be  within  his  reach ;  and  one  of  the  curi- 
osities of  liturgical  literature  is  a  Prayer-book  prepared  for  its  use. 
The  other  issues  of  this  period,  complicated,  for  a  while,  with 
this  of  West,  was  that  of  the  prerogatives  of  the  bishop,  in  the 
government  of  the  College.  Postponing  the  fuller  notice  of  the 
difficulties  in  this,  and  their  results,  we  give  the  two  letters  more 
particularly  connected  with  the  case  of  West.  The  characteristics 
of  the  writer,  as  familiar  to  his  friends  in  later  years,  will  be 
immediately  recognized. 

"GAMBIEE,  Aug.  3d,  1830. 
"DEAR  BROTHER — 

"According  to  your  request  I  write  you  promptly,  and  having 
thus  complied  with  yours,  I  hope  you  will  comply  with  mine, 
which,  following  the  advice  of  Horace,  "in  medias  res,"  I  make 
without  further  preface.  When  I  was  far  away  last  fall,  and  it 
was  out  of  my  power  to  say  yea  or  nay,  the  bishop,  I  find,  appointed 
you  and  me  to  preach  the  Convention  sermon.  When  I  saw  it  I 
was  startled  and  grieved.  Having  been  appointed  not  very  long 


60  MEMOIROF 

before,  and  living  here  on  the  spot,  and  the  appointment  coming 
from  my  own  connection,  I  had  and  have  insuperable  objections 
against  discharging  the  duty.  I  write  to  let  you  know  it  will 
devolve  upon  you  alone,  so  without  any  demurring,  set  yourself 
patiently  down  to  do  your  duty.  Give  us  a  close,  spiritual  sermon, 
and  let  us  see  that '  the  Kingdom  of  God  consisteth  not  in  meats  and 
drinks,  but  in  righteousness,  and  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy 
Ghost.' 

"And  now  for  other  subjects.  As  to  Mr.  West's  £50,000  it  is  all 
a  farce.  The  bishop  says  he  has  not  collected,  during  his  three 
years'  mission,  exclusive  of  the  £500  given  as  a  legacy,  from  Lord 
Kenyon's  daughter,  and  a  few  other  sums  given  while  he  was  in 
England,  but  not  through  his  agency,  over,  I  think  it  is,  $4000 ! ! 
How,'  then,  is  this  report  to  be  accounted  for?  Why,  thus.  He 
professes  to  have,  from  a  gentleman  in  England,  a  promise  of  a 
legacy  to  that  amount,  but  he  says  the  laws  of  Great  Britain 
preclude  his  giving  the  individual's  name  to  those  concerned,  as  by 
so  doing  they  would  forfeit  the  legacy.  All  this  and  much  more 
you  can  see  in  a  printed  pamphlet  which  he  published  and  brought 
with  him,  scattering  some  copies  on  the  way.  But  this  is  not  all — 
tell  it  not  in  Gath,  publish  it  not  in  the  streets  of  Askelon — he 
modestly  asked  the  bishop  if  he  might  hope  to  succeed  him  in  the 
episcopate,  and  whether  he  would  have  his  influence  to  that  effect ! 
You  may  judge  of  the  scene;  my  pen  fails  me.  ' Steterunt  comce, 
vox  faudbus  haesit.'  The  conclusion  is,  Mr.  West  is  gone,  most 
probably,  never  to  return.  He  stayed  here  but  three  or  four  days, 
but  in  that  short  time,  gave  pretty  good  evidence  that  he  is  a 
Universalist  in  doctrine,  and  anything  but  a  Christian  in  practice. 
His  vanity,  self-conceit  and  ambition,  have  disgusted  every  one  of 
any  discernment.  The  poor  bishop  often  thinks,  no  doubt,  of  the 
Apostolic  precept,  'lay  hands  suddenly  on  no  man.' 

"The  'Observer'  will  be  out  to-morrow.  Oh,  do  write  for  it — 
articles  I  mean.  As  to  the  signatures  I  cannot  give  you  any  certain 
guide.  They  are  changed,  and  most  probably  will  be,  every  week. 
When  they  become  fixed  I  will  let  you  know. 

"The  bishop  and  Mr.  McElroy  went  to  Berkshire,  and  had 
Confirmation  there  last  Saturday,  and  in  Delaware  on  Sunday,  and 
were  back  by  one  o'clock  yesterday,  Monday.  Was  not  that  an 
episcopal  visit  ? 

"S.  has  recently  been  thrown  from  his  horse  as  he  was  riding 


WILL  I  AM    SPARROW,    D.   D.  61 

him,  without  saddle  or  bridle,  round  an  orchard,  for  amusement,  and 
had  his  shoulder  injured.  Mrs.  Sparrow  desires,  as  always,  to  be 
affectionately  remembered  to  you. 

"  I  am,  dear  brother,  yours  most  sincerely, 

"WM.  SPAEROW. 

"P.  S. — If  you  cannot  read  this,  why,  I  cannot  help  it.  I 
cannot  read  it  over  and  correct  it." 

"GAMBIER,  Nov.  26th,  1830. 
"KEV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER — 

"I  supposed  you  would  have  written  me  long  ago,  without 
waiting  for  a  letter  to  answer;  for,  however  busy  you  may  be,  I  am 
confident  you  have  not  half  as  much  to  do  as  I  have.  Never  was 
I  so  burdened  as  I  now  am.  Between  my  new  duties  in  the  way 
of  instruction,  and  the  care  of  the  paper,  I  have  not  a  moment  left 
me  to  breathe.  I  had,  yesterday,  to  tell  C.,  the  Irish  gentleman 
you  saw  here  last  Convention,  that  I  really  had  no  time  to  converse 
with  any  one,  except  when  walking  out  or  at  my  meals.  The  Irish 
require  broad  hints.  Since  my  return  home  the  bishop  has  brought 
up  the  old  question  between  him  and  the  teachers;  and  notwith- 
standing the  vote  of  the  trustees,  insisted  on  having  an  absolute 
negative  upon  all  our  proceedings.  We  have  conceded  it,  till  the 
trustees  meet  and  settle  it  finally,  it  being  understood  as  a  conces- 
sion. For  the  part  I  have  taken  in  the  business,  he  is  so  offended, 
that  he  avoids  all  communication  with  me,  except  by  letter,  through 
the  post-office !  I  never  was  more  cut  down  by  the  way  he  acted, 
and  the  way  I  have  been  treated,  especially  as  I  have  no  direct 
interest  in  the  question.  I  have  the  satisfaction,  however,  of 
knowing  that  I  have  endeavored,  in  this  business,  to  do  my  duty. 
The  bishop  sets  off,  in  January,  for  the  Mississippi  country,  a 
begging. 

"In  consequence  of  my  trip  North  I  did  not  go  to  the  Chillicothe 
Association,  and  Bausman  is  anything  but  pleased.  What  made  it 
worse,  Preston,  who  set  out  to  go,  was  driven  back  by  the  rain  and 
rheumatism.  So  Stem  formed  the  Association. 

"Our  number  of  students  is  150.  There  has  been  some 
considerable  seriousness  among  them,  and  a  few  have  come  out 
decidedly  pious. 

"  Mr. ,  remaining  on  the  hill  for  some  time  longer,  died 

lately,  from   mania-a-potu.     I  was  called  to   preach  the   funeral 


62  MEMOIROF 

sermon,  and  never  discharged  a  more  unpleasant  duty.  B.  has 
purchased  the  'Western  Aurora/  and  is  about  commencing  the 
printing  and  bookbinding  business.  My  theological  students  are  C., 
who,  you  know,  is  married,  also  S.  and  H.  The  last  has  been  told 
that  we  all  think  he  has  mistaken  his  calling.  He  took  it  very 
kindly  and  said  he  had  long  suspected  it  himself;  that  his  preference 
and  tastes  were  decidedly  for  the  law,  and  that  if  he  could  get  rid 
of  the  sense  of  duty  which  has  been  urging  him  on  he  would  give 
up  the  idea  altogether !  Curious  man.  He  now  studies  merely  for 
the  sake  of  information.  His  classes  are  engaged  in  Hebrew  and 
Homer.  Do  you  prosecute  your  Hebrew?  Have  you  commenced 
a  system  of  study?  Let  me  know.  Dear  brother,  I  can't  help 
thinking  God  has  a  good  portion  in  store  for  you  somewhere.  In 
this  I  am  joined  by  my  dear  wife,  who  often  talks  with  me  about 
you,  and  who  desires  to  be  remembered  to  you.  Write  me  soon. 
"Your  affectionate  brother  in  Christ,  W.  SPARROW." 

In  one  of  these  letters  the  nature  of  the  difficulty  with  the  Bishop 
is  foreshadowed.  This  went  on  for  some  time,  and  it  was  finally 
terminated  by  the  resignation  of  the  Bishop  of  the  Episcopate  of 
Ohio,  and  his  departure  to  Illinois.  The  peculiarity  of  this  move- 
ment gave  rise  to  a  great  many  new  questions,  to  much  exciting  dis- 
cussion ;  and  in  the  General  Convention  following,  which  had  to  act 
with  reference  to  the  resignation  of  the  Bishop,  and  the  consecration 
of  his  successor,  serious  doubts  were  entertained  as  to  the  conse- 
quences of  failure  in  making  a  satisfactory  adj  ustment.  In  the  j  udg- 
ment  of  one  who  was  largely  in  the  Bishop's  confidence  at  the  time, 
and  not  implicated  with  any  of  the  controversies  preceding,  this  de- 
termination was  very  sudden,  and  in  its  final  result,  a  surprise,  per- 
haps, to  all.  It  had  been  preceded  by  difficulties  in  the  conduct  and 
government  of  the  Institutions,  of  a  varied  character.  Some  of  these 
originated  with  the  pupils,  in  the  form  of  complaints  as  to  the  fare, 
and  their  mode  of  treatment.  Others,  from  the  professors  and 
faculty,  in  the  form  of  complaints  against  indefinite  episcopal  in- 
terference, to  the  weakening  of  all  proper  collegiate  discipline  and 
authority.  And,  others,  again,  from  the  Bishop,  in  the  form  of  com- 
plaints against  plots  and  schemes  that  were  going  on,  as  he  believed, 
to  deprive  him  of  his  proper  influence.  It  would  be  worse  than 
useless,  at  this  time,  to  be  reviving  the  particulars  of  this  extinct  con- 
troversy. One  feature  in  it,  however,  is  of  permanent  interest,  and 


WILLIAM    SPARED  W,   D.  D.  63 

this  is  one  which  may  be  discussed  without  personal  bearing  in  any 
direction,  that  is,  the  question  which  was  practically  at  issue  when 
Bishop  Chase  resigned  the  episcopate  of  Ohio,  which  was  again  raised 
under  the  episcopate  of  Bishop  Mcllvaine,  and  which,  in  some  form 
or  other,  will  be  apt  to  present  itself  in  every  Diocesan  Institution. 
That  question  is,  what  are  the  relations  of  the  episcopate  to  any 
such  Institution  ?  Are  they  academical  or  episcopal,  created  and 
regulated  by  academical  law,  or  inherent  in  the  episcopal  office? 
In  Ohio,  the  charter  of  the  Institutions  really  seems  to  have  given 
the  power  to  the  bishop,  of  indefinite  interference.  And,  so  far, 
Bishop  Chase  had  the  law  on  his  side.  But  it  was  found  to  be  a 
power  which,  in  its  exercise,  proved  intolerable.  Of  course,  upon 
the  theory  that  it  is  inherent,  back  of  law  and  above  law,  its  exer- 
cise became  still  more  intolerable.  Underneath  all  the  other 
difficulties  and  troubles  at  Gambier,  at  this  time,  this,  doubtless,  was 
the  fundamental  one,  and  it  amounted  to  this :  shall  the  Faculty 
have  the  whole  duty  and  responsibility  of  their  position,  but  divide 
its  powers  ?  Shall  they  so  divide  those  powers  that  what  duty  and 
responsibility  indicate  may  immediately  be  reversed  by  some  one 
else  ?  Mr.  Sparrow,  as  the  head  of  the  Faculty,  had  to  bear  the 
brunt  of  this  conflict.  His  original  position  was  that  of  mediator, 
especially  in  the  matter  of  difficulties  of  the  boarding  and  manage- 
ment. His  relations  to  the  Bishop  in"  one  direction,  and  those  to 
the  pupils  and  other  members  of  the  Faculty,  in  another,  placed 
him  in  this  position ;  and,  for  some  time,  he  was  enabled  to  relieve 
many  of  the  troubles  and  sources  of  complaint.  "  At  one  time,"  says 
Dr.  Preston,  "  Professor  W.,  the  most  amiable  of  men,  and  myself, 
and  the  students,  were  on  the  point  of  rebellion,  when  Mr.  Sparrow 
calmed  the  troubled  waters,  by  saying  we  must  bear  all  things,  for 
the  sake  of  the  Bishop  and  the  noble  Institution."  It  was  impossi- 
ble, however,  under  these  and  similar  circumstances,  to  avoid  having 
an  opinion  of  his  own  in  regard  to  the  matters  of  issue.  And  the 
Bishop  reached  the  conclusion  that  he  was  working  against  him,  an 
impression  which  it  was  found  impossible  to  remove.  "  I  once  told 
him,"  says  Dr.  Preston,  "that  Mr.  Sparrow  was  one  of  his  best 
friends,  and  that  his  influence  was  all  for  good."  "I  know,"  the 
Bishop  answered,  "you  cannot  tell  me  anything  about  William 
Sparrow.  Why  sir,  he  has  such  an  influence  that  he  could  at  any 
time  raise  a  mob  of  students,  who  would  drive  the  old  Bishop  off 
the  hill,  only  they  know  they  could  not  get  their  dinner  the  next 


64  MEMOIR    OF 

day."  From  Mr.  Sparrow's  own  subsequently  published  statements, 
and  references  to  rebutting  facts  and  circumstances,  as  from  the 
testimony  of  common  friends,  who  were  in  communication  with  both 
parties,  it  is  manifest  that  the  Bishop  was  entirely  mistaken  in  this 
impression ;  that  he  was  opposed  not  personally,  but  as  a  matter  of 
principle,  and  as  one  of  policy,  for  the  object  of  common  interest  to 
both — the  benefit  of  the  college.  But,  with  this  impression,  right  or 
wrong,  it  was  impossible  for  matters  to  go  on  comfortably.  And. 
when  the  distinct  issue  was  made,  of  a  claim,  by  the  Bishop,  of  a 
veto  upon  the  action  of  the  Faculty,  the  matter  came  to  a  head,  in 
the  Diocesan  Convention.  Here  effort  was  made  to  settle,  by 
compromise,  some  of  the  difficulties,  but  without  success ;  and  the 
final  result  was  the  Bishop's  resignation.  During  the  progress  of 
these  troubles,  or  rather,  as  they  were  drawing  to  a  close,  Mr. 
Sparrow,  in  personal  vindication,  made  a  reply  to  certain  publica- 
tions by  the  Bishop,  of  an  earlier  date.  Without  going  into  the 
particulars,  we  give  the  close,  as  indicative  of  the  spirit  in  which  it 
was  prepared.  "What  I  have  written  has  been  written  in  self- 
defence,  and  with  a  view  to  the  interests  of  the  Diocese.  If  the 
call  had  not  been  imperative,  I  never  should  have  put  pen  to  paper. 
Unwillingly  did  I  commence  this  answer ;  at  every  step  I  have  pro- 
ceeded with  reluctance,  and  now  rejoice  that  the  task  is  ended.  It 
is  the  first  controversy  I  have  ever  been  engaged  in;  it  is  my 
sincere  prayer  that  it  may  be  the  last."  It  is  a  grateful  fact  that 
this  prayer  was  answered.  With  the  exception  of  a  brief  reply  to 
a  most  unwarrantable  attack  made  on  the  character  of  his  teaching, 
and  admitted  into  the  diocesan  paper  (during  the  last  ten  years  of 
his  life),  he  was  spared  from  this  form  of  trial,  the  work  of  contro- 
versy.* 

During  this  contest  we  have  two  letters  to  the  same  correspondent, 
Professor  Wing,  which  enable  us  to  see  some  of  the  difficulties  and 
perplexities  with  which  the  writer  was  struggling.  The  West  affair, 
it  will  be  seen,  very  much  complicated  these  others;  and  at  one 
time,  it  seemed  as  if  they  would  compel  him  to  seek  a  field  of  labor, 
and  support  for  his  family  elsewhere.  The  trial  of  spirit  involved, 
under  these  experiences,  may  well  be  imagined.  The  system  of 
non-intercourse,  except  through  the  post  office,  odd  and  whimsical 

*  Rev.  Mr.  Syle  mentions  as  a  fact,  characteristic  of  its  author,  that  this  pamphlet, 
after  being  prepared  and  published,  was  very  partially  distributed,  that  the  larger 
portion  of  the  edition  was  held  back,  and  eventually  used  as  waste  paper. 


WILLIAM     SPARED  W,    D.  D.  65 

as  it  appears,  must  have  been  very  embarrassing.     But  the  letters 
best  tell  their  own  story. 

"GAMBIER,  January  20th,  1831. 
"BEV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER — 

"I  have  been  confined  to  the  house  the  last  few  days,  by  a  violent 
influenza,  the  same  disease  which  has  carried  off  one  of  our  students, 
and,  therefore,  have  a  little  time  to  spare.  If  you  should  not  be 
able  to  understand  the  improvement  which  I  make  of  this  leisure, 
in  the  following  epistle,  you  need  not  wonder.  My  head  is  so  full 
of  disease  that  there  is  no  room  for  ideas.  I  go  to  work,  however. 
A.,  about  whom  you  inquire,  is  settled  at  Dayton,  they  say  with  good 
prospects  of  success.  The  people  in  Piqua  want  to  have  F.  He 
spent  the  vacation  with  them,  and  took  mightily.  He  tells  comical 
stories  of  M. ;  as  for  instance,  that  after  his  dismission  from  the 
charge  of  the  parish,  Mr.  J.  having  been  invited  to  preach  and 
administer  the  communion,  when  the  time  came  to  ascend  the 
pulpit,  M.,  being  present,  he  stepped  up  and  did  the  duty  himself, 
leaving  J.  and  his  manuscript  to  enjoy  their  leisure.  You  may 
well  suppose  that  J.,  and  also  the  congregation,  were  somewhat 
confounded. 

"  You  have  heard  of  the  revival  in  brother  Bausman's  Church. 
K.  and  S.  have  made  a  profession  of  religion.  Is  not  this  marvel- 
ous? It  is,  it  must  be  the  Lord's  doing.  Brother  B.  and  brother 
S.  were  to  be  in  Columbus  last  Sunday,  I  presume,  holding  an 
Association.  When  I  returned,  last  fall,  from  Boardman,  I  found  it 
impossible  to  go,  according  to  promise,  to  Chillicothe;  and  as 
brother  P.  also  was  prevented,  no  Association  was  held.  Great 
censure  has  fallen  upon  me  for  this.  I  spent  Christmas  in  Newark  ; 
I  hope  not  in  vain.  B.  has  made  dreadful  havoc  there.  It  is  not 
too  much  to  say  that,  although  he  may  not  have  intended  it,  he 
has,  in  effect,  been  as  a  wolf  in  sheep's  clothing,  and  he  has  sucked 
the  life-blood  of  almost  the  whole  flock.  However,  it  is  but  right 
to  say,  that  he  seems  to  have  been,  at  first,  eminently  successful. 

"Affairs  with  me  are  in  rather  a  critical  situation.  I  know  not 
but  I  shall  be  in  a  parish  very  soon.  T.,  and  the  rest  of  them,  in 
New  York,  have  been  all  set  on  fire  by  West,  and,  as  would  seem, 
cannot  easily  be  quenched.  The  Bishop  is  about  to  publish  a  series 
of  pamphlets,  giving  a  full  history  of  the  college,  and  an  explanation 
of  all  difficulties.  This  I  have  indirectly.  I  have  had  no  inter- 
5 


66  MEMOIR    OF 

course  with  him  for  several  months.  The  last  time  we  met  in 
private,  when  I  begged  him  to  agree  to  differ,  in  order  that  we 
might  live  in  peace  and  Christian  love :  his  reply  was  "  peace,  but 
no  intimacy,  no  intimacy."  He  has  kept  his  word.  He  has  been 
lately  circulating  on  the  hill  a  certificate  contradicting  West's 
slanders.  When  it  was  presented  to  me,  I  declined,  on  the  ground  of 
my  connection  with  him.  This  has  led  him  to  demand  explana- 
tions, till  I  am  wearied  with  the  system  of  diplomacy,  which,  con- 
sidering that  we  are  but  a  few  rods  apart,  is  perfectly  ridiculous. 
I  ought  to  tell  you,  I  had  other  reasons  besides  the  one  mentioned 
above,  one  of  which  I  gave  Mr.  P.  when  he  handed  me  the  paper, 
and  these  additional  reasons  I  gave  to  the  Bishop  when  required, 
but  in  a  manner  which  he  could  not  well  find  fault  with.  They 
related  to  the  things  asserted  in  the  certificate;  some  of  them  I 
could  not,  in  conscience,  subscribe. 

"  Now,  the  difficulties  which  this  certificate  is  intended  to  remove 
threaten  the  overthrow  of  the  Milnor  Professorship  fund,  and  if 
that  goes,  I  go  with  it.  After  the  stand  I  have  been  constrained 
to  take,  the  Bishop  would  not  likely  give  me  employment  in  the 
college.  While  I  was  in  Boardman,  P.  went  on,  for  goods,  to  New 
York,  and  T.  then  told  him  no  more  money  should  be  paid  till 
everything  was  cleared  up,  and  they  have  been  as  good  as  his 
word.  I  have  received  nothing,  and  so  far  as  I  see,  am  likely  to 
be  left  in  the  lurch  long  enough  yet,  if  not  altogether.  I  begin, 
inter  nos,  to  think  of  Zanesville  and  Newark.  There  is  field  enough 
there  to  cultivate,  though  it  would  require  more  muscular  arms 
than  mine  to  do  the  work  thoroughly. 

"You  may  well  suppose,  from  the  above  incoherent  statement, 
that  I  am  not  very  comfortably  situated,  and  but  ill  at  ease.  It  is 
even  so.  The  Bishop  is  dealing  strangely  with  me,  and  in  a 
manner  that  I  neither  deserve  nor  expected.  May  Heaven  direct 
me,  and  at  all  events,  keep  me  from  everything  unworthy  of  a 
Christian.  I  find  myself  exposed  continually  to  the  same  errors 
into  which  I  conceive  him  falling.  Even  since  I  commenced  this, 
something  most  trying  to  patience,  has  occurred.  The  worst  of  it 
is,  for  me,  that  it  breaks  down  my  spirits.  I  have  no  courage  to  go 
about  my  work.  Mrs.  S.  desires  to  be  kindly  remembered  to  you. 
She  wishes  you  were  President  of  Kenyon  College,  and  thinks  I 
would  then  have  peace. 

"  Pray  for  your  affectionate  brother,  in  Christ  our  Lord. 

"WILLIAM  SPARROW." 


W  I  L  L  I  A  M     S  P  A  R  R  0  W,    D.  D.  67 

"GAMBIER,  April  13th,  1831. 
"DEAR  BROTHER — 

"I  returned  a  few  days  ago,  from  an  excursion  to  Worthington 
and  Columbus,  and  found  your  letter  waiting  for  me.  I  should 
like  right  well  to  purchase  the  'Observer;'  but  if  I  can  get  bread 
for  my  children  these  times,  it  is  as  much  as  I  can  do.  I  never  was 
so  situated  as  I  am  at  present.  Unless  I  leave  the  college  I  can 
do  nothing  but  live  in  hope  till  the  trustees  meet,  when  something 
may  be  done  for  me.  To  leave  the  college  would,  undoubtedly, 
humanly  speaking,  benefit  my  health,  and,  I  have  reason  to 
believe,  not  circumscribe  my  means  of  living.  But  who  comes  into 
my  place?  This  is  the  question.  And  where  could  I  do  as  much 
good  as  here?  this  is  another.  The  last  session,  I  have  reason  to 
believe,  I  have  been  more  blessed  in  my  endeavors  than  ever 
before.  And  though  the  infirmities  of  my  flesh  were  peculiarly 
painful  at  the  time,  I  look  back  upon  them  now  with  thankful- 
ness, and  shall  commence  the  next  session  with  some  little 
encouragement.  This,  together  with  the  advice  of  a  few  friends, 
is  what  keeps  me  here  now.  My  wife  is  sick  of  war,  and  so  am  I, 
most  heartily.  But  if  I  go,  there  is  good  reason  to  fear  that  a  man 
of  different  views  may  be  brought  into  my  place;  and  then  all  the 
glorious  prospects  with  which  we  have  comforted  ourselves  will  be 
at  once  blasted;  the  Institution,  as  it  regards  religion,  losing  all  its 
life  and  feeling. 

"  I  went  down  to  Columbus,  to  try  and  find  out  what  was  best  to 
be  done.  Everything  that  occurred  there  was  consoling;  as  also 
what  I  learned  from  Chillicothe,  from  brother  P.,  who  went  down 
there  for  me,  I  tarrying  in  his  parishes.  A  proposition  was  made 
to  me  in  Columbus,  which  would  have  relieved  me  if  acceded  to; 
to  go  as  a  missionary  through  the  State,  till  Convention.  I  thought 
strongly  of  the  scheme  for  a  time,  but  have  pretty  much  given  it 
up.  One  motive  for  wishing  to  go,  though  subordinate,  of  course, 
was  that  I  might  pay  you  a  visit.  I  should  long  to  have  a  long 
tete-a-tete  with  you;  and  while  I  derived  benefit  from  your  counsel, 
and  comfort,  and  sympathy,  in  return  astonish  you  not  a  little.  I 
could  assure  you,  and  so  could  P.,  that  strange  things  have  befallen 
me.  I  desire  to  have  your  prayers,  that  I  may  do  my  duty,  and  leave 
events  to  God.  Oh,  what  would  I  not  give  to  be  able  to  say,  as 
some  have  said,  'the  Lord  reigneth,  let  the  earth  rejoice'!  It  is 


68  MEMOIROF 

something,  however,  to  know  that  the  feeling  which  it  expresses  is 
proper  and  desirable.  This  conviction  has,  of  late,  been  forced  upon 
my  mind  with  more  than  common  power.  I  wish  to  leave  all 
things  in  God's  hands,  believing  that  He  does  all  things  well;  but 
oh,  my  unbelief!  I  catch  myself  continuously  laying  plans  and 
supposing  cases  which  are,  in  fact,  an  impeachment  of  Divine 
Providence.  Pray  for  me,  I  repeat,  dear  brother,  that  I  may  have 
the  path  of  duty  made  plain  before  me,  and  may  have  grace  and 
strength  to  walk  therein.  If  I  leave  the  college  I  shall  seek  some 
large  town.  I  know  I  could  do  nothing  in  the  country.  Most 
probably  I  shall  leave  the  State,  the  causes  which  drive  me  from 
the  college  naturally  driving  me  further.  But  I  must  stop.  Mrs. 
S.  desires  her  Christian  regards  and  hearty  wishes  for  you,  that 
you  may  find  a  bird  for  your  cage.  As  ever, 

"Your  brother  in  Christ,  WILLIAM  SPARROW." 

In  a  fragment  of  a  diary,  the  two  following  brief  records  have 
their  interest  in  connection  with  this  subject.  The  first  is  December 
20th,  soon  after  the  bishop's  resignation ;  the  second,  May  6th,  of 
the  year  following. 

"  Since  my  last  record  strange  and  unexpected  events  have  taken 
place,  in  which  I  have  taken  part.  Though  I  have  great  reason  to 
be  humbled  before  God,  for  the  feelings  which,  at  different  times, 
have  arisen  in  my  heart,  and  been  allowed  to  harbor  there,  yet  I 
can  say,  thank  God,  '  I  have  wronged  no  man '  in  this  thing.  I 
pray  God  overrule  all  for  the  good  of  His  Church." 

"I  have  just  sent  forth  my  reply.  In  writing  it  I  have  been 
unhappy.  Thank  God,  it  has  afforded  me  no  delight  to  engage  in 
this  controversy ;  but  the  reverse.  Lord,  overrule  all  for  good,  and 
in  all  my  trials  be  my  stronghold  and  consolation.  Help  me  to  with- 
draw myself  from  dependence  upon  any  creature,  even  my  dearest 
friends.  In  this  thing  Thou  knowest  I  have  erred.  Help  me,  also, 
to  banish  from  my  heart  everything  of  hatred  and  malice.  0  Lord, 
give  me  the  spirit  of  Him  who  prayed  for  His  enemies,  even  upon 
the  cross.  Grant  that  I  may  abide  in  love,  avoiding  every 
expression  and  thought  which  may  spring  from  bad  feeling,  or  have 
a  tendency  to  excite  it.  Help  me  to  conduct  myself  as  becomes  thy 
servant,  in  my  intercourse  with  the  world,  especially  my  associates. 
Lord,  pity  my  weakness,  and  give  me  wisdom  and  strength." 

The  alienation  of  this  controversy,  to  Mr.  Sparrow,  was,  in  many 


WILLIAM    SPARRO  W,    D.  D.  69 

respects,  exceedingly  painful,  deepened,  in  view  of  the  disruption  it 
involved  of  old  friendship  and  long  confidential  intimacy.  It  did 
not,  however,  prove  irreconcilable.  The  old  bishop,  some  years 
after,  whether  recognizing  his  mistake,  or  waiving  the  question 
altogether,  of  the  merits  of  the  controversy,  determined  to  have  a 
reconciliation.  And  his  movement  met  with  a  prompt  and  cordial 
response.  The  manner  of  that  movement  was  characteristic. 
Passing  along  the  street,  in  Cincinnati,  with  one  or  two  in  company, 
he  recognized  his  old  friend  on  the  other  side.  Calling  him  over 
to  him,  they  met  as  Christian  brethren,  and  the  controversy  and 
its  painful  alienation  were  terminated.  Whether  any  of  their 
unpleasantness  remained  with  one  of  the  parties,  we  have  no  means 
of  knowing.  But  with  the  other  there  seems  to  have  been  a 
complete  obliteration.  The  writer  of  this  memoir  was  not  aware 
of  the  particulars  of  this  controversy,  or  that  reconciliation  had 
been  effected,  until  after  the  death  of  Dr.  Sparrow.  That  there 
had  been  some  conflict,  he  knew;  but  supposing  that  the  subject 
would  be  a  painful  one,  no  inquiries,  nor  direct  allusions  were  ever 
made,  which  would  have  elicited  an  explanation.  At  the  same 
time  he  is  persuaded  that  Dr.  Sparrow  supposed  that  he  knew  all 
about  it.  But  the  point  of  special  interest  just  here  is,  the  mode 
in  which  he  always  spoke  of  Bishop  Chase,  the  kindly  and  pleasant 
feelings  with  which  he  recurred  to  their  early  intimacy  and  labors 
together,  and  the  large  allowance  with  which  he  spoke  of  the  bishop's 
mistakes  and  errors,  as  he  regarded  them,  both  of  doctrine  and  ad- 
ministration. No  one  could  have  known,  from  these  allusions,  or 
would  have  suspected,  that  the  parties  had  ever  been  in  conflict. 
The  fact  is  one  that  is  honorable  to  both.  We  can  now  gratefully 
think  of  them  in  that  higher  sphere  of  effort  and  of  service  for  a 
common  Master  to  which  they  have  been  exalted,  where  all  misap- 
prehension and  alienation  are  impossible — are  at  an  end  forever. 

We  close  this  chapter  with  extracts  from  the  fragment  of  diary 
already  mentioned.  Some  of  these  come  earlier  than  the  two  already 
given.  They  all  occur  within  the  last  two  years  of  the  period 
included  by  this  chapter. 

"January  1st,  1830.  Another  year  is  commenced.  God  grant 
that  it  may  end  well !  Oh  how  much  have  I  to  do,  and  how  little 
ability  of  body,  mind,  or  spirit.  Lord,  be  thou  my  helper !  Make 
my  purposes  pure  and  single,  that  I  may  be  enabled  to  go  on  with 
good  courage,  hoping  for  thy  favor  and  assistance. 


70  MEMOIR    OF 

"  2d.  Indulged  in  too  much  levity.  Lord,  help  me  to  set  a  watch 
over  my  lips  and  thoughts. 

"4th.  Purpose  not  to  talk,  hereafter,  so  much  and  frequently 
about  the  parties  in  our  Church.  Many  lose  their  religion  in 
arguing  and  disputing  about  it. 

"  12th.  Buried  Mrs.  F.  to-day.  May  the  prayer  of  my  heart  be 
granted  and  fulfilled  in  my  case :  '  Teach  me  to  number  my  days, 
that  I  may  apply  my  heart  unto  wisdom.' 

"  15th.  Bead  Watson's  answer  to  Paine.  No  Christian  disput- 
ant should  content  himself  with  standing  upon  the  defensive  and 
answering  impertinent  cavils;  he  should  draw  forth  the  powers 
of  his  religion,  and  make  a  direct  attack,  not  only  upon  the  false 
theory  of  Deists,  but  also  upon  the  evil  heart  of  unbelief  which  has 
led  them  astray. 

"  March  2d.  Finished  Miller,  on  the  Sonship  of  Christ.  Plain, 
conclusive,  conciliating. 

"May  10th.  My  visit  to  Delaware  has  been  instructive  and 
agreeable.  Meetings  of  professors  on  Sabbath  morning,  before 
communion,  must  be  very  beneficial.  They  make  professors  feel 
themselves  a  '  separate  and  peculiar  people ; '  unite  them  more 
closely  in  the  bonds  of  love;  and  afford  the  pastor  opportunity  for 
esoteric  instruction  and  strong  appeals  founded  on  the  nature  of  a 
religious  profession. 

"  September  12th.  Convention  is  over.  I  hope  I  have  learned 
something. 

29th.  My  trip  to  Boardman  has  been  pleasant  and  profitable  in 
some  degree.  But,  oh,  how  unlike  a  true  missionary  do  I  feel,  in 
these  little  excursions. 

"October  2d.  It  is  my  purpose,  from  this  day  forward,  to  read 
nothing  but  what  relates  directly  to  a  knowledge  of  the  Bible  and 
ecclesiastical  history,  except  what  may  be  necessary  in  editing  the 
'Observer,'  or  in  preparing  to  preach. 

"April  30th,  1831.  Since  my  last  record  was  made,  some 
few  pleasant  things,  and  very  many  unpleasant  things  have  taken 
place.  May  all  work  together  for  good.  My  recent  trips  to  Dela- 
ware and  Columbus  ought  to  make  me  wise ;  but  how  am  I  to  learn ! 
One  thing  is  very  clear,  that  if  do  not  take  care,  life  will  have 
slipped  away  while  I  am  preparing  to  live.  Lord  help  me  to  do 
what  thou  hast  given  me  to  do,  and  to  lay  all  else  aside.  Pity  my 
weakness,  and  help  me  in  the  discharge  of  my  duty." 


WILLIAM    SPARED  W,   D.  D.  71 

The  forty-two  years  of  successful  labors  that  followed  this 
petition— r-of  influence  as  teacher,  as  preacher,  and  as  a  personal 
example— constitute  its  abundant  answer.  It  was  under  peculiar 
pressure  that  it  was  offered;  and  we  are  now  enabled  to  recognize 
in  what  manner  it  was  heard  and  answered. 

With  the  departure  of  Bishop  Chase,  and  the  changes  therein 
involved,  new  questions,  of  course,  as  to  the  seminary  and  college, 
and  diocese,  naturally  came  up  for  decision;  new  modifications  as 
to  duty  and  responsibility  were  rendered  necessary.  With  these 
we  shall  be  occupied  in  the  next  chapter, 


72  MEMOIROF 


CHAPTER    IV. 

LAST    YEARS    IN    OHIO. 

The  next  eight  or  nine  years  were  spent,  in  many  respects,  very 
much  as  those  of  the  four  or  five  preceding.  The  Institutions,  both 
literary  and  theological,  after  their  recovery  from  the  temporary 
shock  of  the  difficulties  to  which  allusion  has  already  been  made, 
were  increased  as  to  their  numbers,  and  enjoyed  a  good  degree  of 
prosperity.  The  College  gave  promise  of  meeting  the  expectation 
of  its  founders,  and  the  Seminary  had  its  distinct  organization,  with 
a  respectable  number  of  candidates  preparing  for  the  work  of  the 
ministry.  The  position  of  Mr.  Sparrow  was  that  of  Vice-President, 
as  under  Bishop  Chase,  but  as  then,  and  from  the  nature  of  the 
case,  with  almost  the  full  responsibility  of  the  head  of  the  Institu- 
tions. This  relation  was  sustained  alike  to  the  college  students, 
and  to  those  in  the  theological  seminary.  At  the  same  time,  he 
gave  instructions,  as  Milnor  Professor,  in  the  seminary,  first  in 
ecclesiastical  history,  subsequently  in  systematic  divinity,  also  as 
Professor  of  moral  philosophy  in  the  college.  In  addition  to  these 
duties,  were  his  editorial  labors  of  conducting  the  diocesan  paper, 
the  "Gambier  Observer."  From  reports  made  to  Convention,  we 
find  that  his  practice  of  preaching  in  the  neighboring  parishes, 
was  kept  up,  taking  his  part  also  in  the  chapel  of  the  Institu- 
tion. As  delegate  to  the  General  Convention,  he  was  absent  from 
these  duties  once  or  twice  for  brief  intervals.  Similar  absences  are 
occasionally  alluded  to,  as  rendered  necessary,  on  the  score  of 
physical  debility.  But  with  such  brief  exceptions,  the  time  seems 
to  have  been  spent  in  the  routine  of  duty  thus  indicated.  These 
duties  were  brought  to  a  close  by  his  resignation,  in  the  close  of 
the  year  1840,  and  his  removal  to  Virginia.  This  change  consti- 
tutes a  definite  point  of  transition ;  and  we,  therefore,  with  the  inter- 
val which  it  includes,  occupy  the  present  chapter — his  connection 
with  Kenyon  College  and  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Gambier, 
under  the  episcopate  of  Bishop  Mcllvaine. 

During  the  interval  between  the  departure  of  Bishop  Chase,  and 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  73 

the  coming  in  of  his  successor,  from  September,  1831,  until  October, 
1832,  the  government  and  conduct  of  the  seminary  and  college 
were,  of  course,  with  the  Trustees  and  the  Faculty.  Soon  after  the 
consecration  of  Bishop  Mcllvaine,  he  paid  them  a  visit,  staying  a 
few  days,  this  being  followed  by  a  longer  one,  just  before  the  close 
of  the  session.  "I  arrived,"  says  he,  in  his  first  report  to  the  Con- 
vention, "in  Gambier,  November  28th,  where  I  remained  till 
December  4th,  inspecting  the  condition  of  the  college.  During  this 
time,  I  held  a  private  meeting  of  such  students  as  were  professors 
of  religion,  for  the  purpose  of  prayer  and  exhortation;  preached 
thrice  in  the  college  chapel,  and  ordained  Eev.  C.  W.  Fitch,  Pro- 
fessor of  Greek,  to  the  order  of  the  priesthood.  On  Sunday  night, 
preached  in  St.  Paul's  Church,  Mount  Vernon,  a  new  Church 
recently  finished  at  the  cost  of  no  little  sacrifice  and  effort,  and  in 
which  a  congregation  is  fast  rising  to  such  a  measure  of  strength 
as,  it  is  hoped,  will  enable  them  before  long  to  support  their  minister. 
On  the  following  Tuesday,  left  Gambier,  accompanied  by  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Sparrow  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  McElroy,  and  rode  to  Berkshire. 
Next  day  arrived  at  Delaware,  and  preached  at  night  at  St.  Peter's 
Church.  I  was  particularly  pleased  with  the  appearance  of  the 
congregations  last  named.  I  have  seldom  seen  a  more  animated 
and  unanimous  participation  in  public  worship,  or  a  more  earnest 
attention  to  the  preaching  of  the  word." 

This  extract  has  been  given,  not  only  for  its  bearing  upon  the 
condition  of  the  college,  but  as  incidentally  containing  an  exhibition 
of  some  of  the  results  of  Mr.  Sparrow's  preaching  during  the  seven 
or  eight  years  preceding.  Two  of  the  congregations  mentioned, 
those  of  Mount  Vernon  and  Delaware,  and  one  in  the  next  para- 
graph, that  of  Worthington,  one  of  these  with  a  rector,  and  the 
others  almost  ready  to  receive  and  support  one,  had  been  the  object 
of  his  exertions.  To  those  exertions,  under  God,  were  they  indebted 
for  much  of  their  subsequent  prosperity. 

"I  arrived  at  Gambier,"  is  another  and  later  statement  in  this 
same  report  of  the  Bishop,  "  on  Wednesday,  June  24th,  and  took  up 
my  residence  here,  having  experienced  the  kind  care  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence over  my  family  and  self  during  a  very  fatiguing  and  trying 
journey.  My  time  since  my  arrival  here  has  been  principally 
devoted  to  such  changes  in  the  organization  and  discipline  of  the 
college  as  would  naturally  be  required,  after  its  having  been  so 
long  without  a  head,  and  almost  without  hope.  I  am  happy  to 


74  MEMOIBOF 

state,  that  I  found  its  internal  condition  more  healthy  and  efficient 
than  could  reasonably  be  expected  from  the  trying  circumstances  it 
had  had  to  contend  with,  and  that  its  present  prospects  are  such  as 
to  inspire  the  most  confident  belief  that,  with  the  Divine  blessing, 
it  will  soon  exert  a  most  salutary  influence  on  the  cause  of  sound 
learning  and  enlightened  piety  in  the  West." 

Prior,  however,  to  this,  there  had  been  events  of  deep  interest, 
both  to  the  college  and  the  diocese,  transpiring  elsewhere.  The 
resignation  of  Bishop  Chase  took  the  diocese  and  the  whole  Church 
by  surprise.  A  minority  of  the  Convention  made  another  effort  to 
bring  about  a  settlement  of  the  difficulties,  so  as  to  have  the  resig- 
nation withdrawn.  And  when  this  failed,  it  was  doubtful  whether 
the  coming  General  Convention,  that  of  1832,  would  consent  to  the 
severance  of  the  bishop  and  his  diocese  in  this  way,  and  sanction  the 
action  of  the  Convention  in  its  choice  of  a  successor.  Mr.  Sparrow 
was  one  of  the  delegates  to  the  General  Convention,  and  in  view  of 
his  relations  to  the  diocese  and  college,  felt  the  deepest  interest  in 
the  success  of  their  application.  During  the  last  few  months  of  his 
life  he  was  led  to  allude  to  this  Convention,  and  to  speak  of  the 
anxiety  and  uncertainty  of  the  earlier  part  of  it,  especially  of  their 
obligations  to  Dr.  Wainwright,  for  his  unanticipated  but  powerful 
advocacy  of  their  cause,  and  of  the  gratification  with  which  the 
result  was  hailed,  both  as  settling  diocesan  difficulties  and  giving 
an  impulse  to  the  Evangelical  interest,  with  which  Dr.  Mcllvaine 
was  so  thoroughly  identified.  In  this  connection,  Dr.  Sparrow 
mentioned  an  incident,  not  without  its  interest,  taking  place  during 
this  Convention.  On  the  day  of  the  consecration  of  Bishop  Mcll- 
vaine, there  was  quite  a  number  of  the  clergy  —  perhaps  all,  for 
all  were  not  many  —  of  those  sympathizing  with  the  bishop  elect, 
to  dine  at  Dr.  Milnor's.  After  dinner,  at  the  suggestion  of  some 
one  present,  the  company  became  an  impromptu  prayer  meet- 
ing, for  a  Divine  blessing  upon  the  events  transpiring.  "While 
upon  their  knees,  some  one  was  heard  to  enter,  and,  when  the 
prayer  was  ended,  it  was  found  that  the  unanticipated  visitor  was 
the  distinguished  advocate  just  mentioned,  who  had  rendered  such 
essential  aid  in  the  discussion  of  the  Convention.  His  presence  just 
then  seems  to  have  been  purely  accidental,  but  it  was  none  the 
less  a  grateful  surprise  to  those  who  composed  the  meeting. 

During  the  same  year,  1832,  we  find  in  the  diary  one  or  two 
entries  of  importance;  one  of  these  immediately  precedes  his 


WILLIAM     SPARKOW,    D.  D.  75 

departure  from  Lome  to  the  Convention.  The  others  are  upon 
points  then  of  peculiar  interest. 

"June  29th.  Every  day  brings  news  of  the  nearer  approach  of 
the  dread  cholera.  Lord,  enable  me  to  leave  myself,  and  wife,  and 
little  ones,  in  thy  hands,  to  spare  or  not  to  spare,  as  in  thine  infinite 
wisdom  and  mercy  shall  seem  best.  If  any  of  us  perish,  Lord,  into 
thy  hands  I  would  commend  our  spirits.  If  we  are  spared,  let  us 
hereafter  be  wholly  thine,  and  let  this  brief  note  stand  as  a  memento 
of  my  obligations  and  my  duty."* 

"August  2.  To-day  I  went  to  church,  as  a  hearer  and  an  invalid. 
Through  the  mercy  of  God,  raised  up  from  a  fever,  after  an  absence 
of  four  weeks,  I  have  gone  once  again  to  the  house  of  prayer.  I 
might  now  be  mouldering  in  the  grave,  yet  it  is  not  so,  and  why? 
0,  my  God,  I  would  adore  Thy  goodness. 

"  By  my  sickness  I  trust  I  have  learned  some  things  which  I 
really  needed  to  be  taught.  One  is,  that  during  sickness  is  not  the 
time  to  attend  to  religion,  for  the  purpose  of  acquiring  a  knowledge 
of  the  truth ;  but  rather  a  season  for  falling  back  upon  and  using 
religion  acquired  before.  In  many  forms  of  disease  the  mind  is 
unfitted  to  do  anything  but  feed  upon  the  promises.  God  grant 
that  when  my  last  sickness  comes  I  may  be  enabled  and  entitled  to 
appropriate  them  all,  so  that,  casting  myself  entirely  on  the  Divine 
mercy,  I  may  fall  asleep  in  Jesus. 

"  A  second  particular  I  have  learned  is,  that  attention  to  health 
is,  especially  in  my  present  condition,  a  bounden  duty.  0,  may  I 
be  enabled  to  perform  it. 

"A  third,  that  I  ought  to  provide,  in  some  way,  for  my  family, 

*  The  present  generation,  even  those  who  are  old  enough  to  know  of  the  apprehen- 
sions connected  with  the  progress  of  this  disease  in  its  subsequent  visitations,  can 
have  no  conception  of  the  feelings,  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  with  which,  in  1832, 
its  first  approach  was  contemplated.  Its  progress  from  Asia  to  Europe,  from  interior 
Europe  to  the  sea  coast,  until  it  reached  France  and  England,  had  been  watched  with 
curiosity,  not  altogether  unmixed  with  anxiety.  As  its  fearful  ravages  in  those  last 
named  countries  went  on,  the  question  was  anxiously  asked,  will  it  cross  the  Atlantic  ? 
And  when  the  answer  came,  with  its  appearance  in  Quebec  and  Montreal,  and  soon 
after  in  New  York,  communities  and  individuals  were  made  to  feel,  as  they  had  never 
felt  before,  that  there  was  but  a  step  between  them  and  death,  that  they  must  set  their 
houses  in  order,  as  the  destroyer  at  any  moment  might  be  at  hand.  The  above  extract 
was  written  while  the  pestilence  was  prevailing  in  the  two  chief  cities  of  Canada,  and 
only  two  or  three  days  before  it  made  its  appearance  in  the  city  of  New  York.  This 
was  the  most  painfully  exciting  period  of  popular  apprehension.  Reaction,  after  a 
time,  came  on,  and  men  passed  through  the  storm  with  more  composure  than  they  had 
contemplated  it  in  the  distance. 


76  MEMOIR    OF 

so  that,  should  I  be  taken  off  before  them,  they  may  not  be  entirely 
destitute. 

"A  fourth,  that  as  a  preacher,  I  have  not  been  sufficiently 
practical.  I  have  indulged  too  much  in  metaphysical  refinement. 

"A  fifth — the  root  of  the  preceding — that  I  have  not  lived  near 
enough  to  God.  A  feeble  Christian  makes  a  feeble  preacher,  and  I 
am  both.  0  God,  help  me  to  study  Thy  Word  devotionally,  to 
think  of  Thee  and  Thy  ways  and  works,  devotionally,  that  I  may 
grow  in  grace  as  well  as  in  knowledge,  so  that  my  knowledge  may 
be  sanctified,  and  made  instrumental  to  holy  ends.  Lord,  Thou 
knowest  my  weakness,  and  that  I  feel  it  in  part.  For  Jesus'  sake 
pity  and  lend  me  the  assistance  of  Thy  Almighty  Spirit. 

"  Sunday,  Sept.  23d.  In  two  days  I  purpose  setting  out  for  New 
York;  a  long,  and,  at  the  present  time,  a  somewhat  dangerous 
journey.  0,  my  God,  I  desire  to  commit  myself,  my  wife  and  little 
ones,  to  Thy  covenant  care.  Let  Thy  hand  be  extended  over  me, 
and  Thy  grace  accompany  me.  0,  Thou  merciful  God,  whatever 
betide  me,  let  me  have  the  consolations  of  Thy  grace.  If  it  be 
Thy  righteous  will  restore  me  to  my  family,  and  let  me  find  them 
in  health  and  happiness.  If  my  days  are  drawing  to  a  close,  and 
my  next  parting  is  destined  to  be  the  last  parting  with  them, 
Thou,  0  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  watch  over,  protect, 
sustain,  and  save  them.  Be  the  friend  of  my  widow,  and  of  my 
orphan  children.  They  are  in  Thy  hand.  For  Christ's  sake 
preserve  them  and  me,  that,  however  our  external  lot  may  be  cast, 
we  may  all  rejoice,  'no  wanderers  lost,  a  family  in  heaven.'  Amen. 

"Dec.  20.  Restored  to  my  family  and  home,  Lord  what  do  I  not 
owe  Thee.  Thy  dealings  toward  me  have  been  faithfulness,  and 
truth,  and  much  mercy.  Thou  hast  saved  me  from  sickness  and 
harm;  Thou  hast  crowned  mine  errand  with  success;  Thou  hast 
relieved  me  of  long-standing  trials,  and  hast  brought  me  back  to 
my  wife  and  children  with  improved  prospect  of  happiness.  Lord 
teach  me  gratitude  for  Thy  great  and  unnumbered  mercies." 

One  or  two  more  extracts  will  bring  us  to  the  close  of  the 
session  1832-3,  contemporaneous  with  the  date  of  the  last  extract 
given  from  Bishop  Mcllvaine's  report  to  the  Convention.  They 
are,  as  those  already  given,  of  special  interest,  as  showing  the 
peculiar  spirit  with  which  Mr.  Sparrow  entered  upon  the  responsi- 
bilities of  his  work  under  the  new  state  of  things.  That  spirit 
was  one  of  profound  gratitude  for  Divine  mercies  and  blessings  of 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  77 

the  past,  deep  humility  in  view  of  imperfection,  and  failure  of 
improvement ;  earnest  resolve  to  be  more  in  earnest  and  faithful 
for  the  future.  The  first  of  these  extracts  is  with  the  opening  of 
the  year. 

"  January  1st,  1833.  Another  year  has'  begun.  Through  God's 
mercy  I  am  still  in  the  land  of  the  living.  May  I  feel  that  the 
lengthening  of  my  days  is  the  enlarging  of  my  obligations ;  and 
may  this  year  be  the  most  profitable  to  myself,  my  family,  and  the 
Church  of  God,  of  any  that  I  have  lived. 

"January  3d.  As  I  seem  to  make  little  progress  in  my  studies, 
I  shall,  hereafter,  note  frequently  what  I  read,  that  I  may  see  the 
exact  amount.  I  will  also  try  and  observe  the  following  division  of 
time  and  labor,  except  when  preparation  is  to  be  made  for  the 
pulpit.  The  forenoon  shall  be  devoted  to  Hebrew,  French,  Greek, 
and  Latin ;  the  afternoon  to  Theology ;  and  the  evening  to  miscella- 
neous reading.  I  shall,  also,  when  I  begin  a  work,  endeavor  to 
persevere  to  the  end  without  engaging  in  any  other,  if  it  is  worthy 
of  a  complete  perusal,  and  when  the  task  is  done,  record  my  feelings 
and  thoughts  in  relation  to  it." 

The  next  extract,  some  two  or  three  weeks  afterward,  contains 
a  fulfillment  of  one  of  the  resolutions  here  recorded.  But  with  a 
brief  notation  of  two  other  books  read  at  a  later  date,  this  is  the 
only  criticism  of  the  nature  indicated. 

"January  22d.  Since  my  last  record  I  have  read,  'Stuart  on 
Romans,'  but  I  must  read  it  again.  The  writer  judges  according  to 
evidence,  and  without  regard  to  system,  as  much  as  any  that  I  have 
ever  met.  I  pray  God  to  give  me  the  same  spirit  of  independence 
of  mind;  and  while  I  allow  no  human  authority  to  interfere  with 
my  conscience,  may  I  feel  my  own  great  liability  to  err,  and  ever 
submit  myself  to  the  Divine  authority. 

"July  8.  To-morrow,  I  again  leave  my  dear  family,  in  pursuit  of 
health,  and  again  would  I  commend  them  to  the  care  of  my  cove- 
nant God.  Lord,  Thou  knowest  all  my  wants  and  weaknesses,  and 
all  my  desires.  I  leave  them  before  Thy  mercy  seat.  Should  I  be 
taken  from  my  family  soon,  and  never  permitted  to  see  them  again 
this  side  of  eternity,  Father  of  mercies,  let  me,  for  Jesus'  sake,  see 
them — see  them  in  eternity,  and  before  Thy  throne,  praising 
redeeming  love.  Should  it  be  Thy  good  and  indulgent  pleasure 
that  I  be  restored  to  my  wife  and  babes,  0  Lord,  make  me  thankful. 
Whatever  be  Thy  will,  take  them  and  Thy  servant  under  Thy  care, 


78  MEMOIR    OF 

for  time  and  for  eternity.  Thou  knowest,  0  Lord,  I  look  only  to 
Thee  for  real  happiness,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 

"  February,  1833.  Kead  the  introduction  to '  Edwards  on  the  Will. ' 
The  writer,  Isaac  Taylor,  is  a  man  of  great  power,  capable  of  close 
analysis  and  extensive  generalization,  and  endowed,  withal,  with  an 
imagination  capable  of  illustrating  every  subject,  possessed  of  a 
range  of  knowledge,  affording  his  imagination  abundance  of  mate- 
rial. He  is  so  splendid  one  fears  to  trust  him.  This  work  goes  to 
confirm  an  old  opinion,  that  man  is  to  grow  in  wisdom  by 
receding  from  positions  occupied  rather  than  in  taking  new  ones. 
I  have  long  thought  that  man  regards  himself  as  capable  of  much 
more  than  he  is,  and  that  as  he  advances  in  true  knowledge  he  will 
relinquish  many  things  which  he  now  holds  as  undoubted  truths. 
Man  is  yet  very  ignorant  of  the  real  length  of  his  plummet.  The 
work  of  this  writer  clears  the  way  for  the  free  interpretation  of  the 
Scriptures,  by  showing  the  small  practical  importance  of  those 
principles  according  to  which  men  have  hitherto  endeavored  to 
square  them.  The  author,  therefore,  will  undoubtedly  aid  to 
prepare  men's  minds  for  the  more  unbiased  study  of  the  sacred 
volume.  He  is  evidently  a  candid  man,  and  cannot  fail  to  influence 
the  candid. 

" '  Tittman,  on  Greek  Prepositions  in  Composition,'  is  an  interesting 
article.  It  is  a  pity  he  has  not  given  us  more  examples. 

'"Life  of  Kobert  Hall,'  contains  many  valuable  hints,  but  does 
not  afford  much  spiritual  improvement.  The  reader  is  too  much 
taken  up  with  the  gigantic  intellect.  '  Foster's  View '  contains  some 
important  suggestions, 

"'Clement's  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians.'  Is  it  prejudice  that 
blinds  me,  that  I  cannot  see  the  much  talked-of  excellence  of  the 
apostolical  fathers?  This  Epistle  is  considered  the  best  of  their 
production;  deutero-canonical,  if  not  absolutely  canonical  in  the 
opinion  of  some;  yet  what  excellence  has  it,  beyond  simplicity? 
The  writer  was  a  simple  and  sincere  Christian ;  having  said  this 
you  say  all.  He  displays  no  depth,  either  of  intellect  or  piety,  and 
he  betrays  a  credulous  spirit,  and  a  want  of  soundness  in  Scripture 
interpretation.  The  story  of  the  phoenix  of  Arabia  is  told  as 
undoubted  truth,  and  he  finds  bishops  and  deacons  in  Isaiah,  Ix, 
17.  It  is  its  date  which  gives  this  work  its  value.  In  section  47, 
it  is  intimated  that  the  dissensions  at  Corinth,  in  the  Apostle  Paul's 
time,  originated  mainly  from  one  man.  The  fifty-fourth  chapter 


W  I  L  L  I  A  M     S  P  A  R  R  0  W,    D.  D.  79 

was  adduced  in  our  General  Convention  of  1832,  in  New  York,  on 
the  subject  of  episcopal  resignations." 

During  the  year  in  which  this  last  extract  was  written,  he  took 
advantage  of  the  leisure  afforded  by  the  vacation,  to  visit  the 
Atlantic  coast,  being,  for  a  time,  in  New  York,  but  for  a  longer 
interval  in  New  England.  The  main  object  of  this  trip,  as  appears 
from  his  correspondence,  was  the  benefit  to  his  health  from  the 
change  and  relaxation.  He  speaks,  indeed,  of  the  question  of  his 
remaining  in  Ohio  being  doubtful,  on  this  score,  as  to  its  answer. 
And  he  felicitates  himself  with  the  assurance  that,  if  he  should  find 
it  impossible  to  retain  his  position,  facilities  have  been  opened  for  a 
change.  The  tour,  in  its  effect  upon  his  health,  seems  to  have  ren- 
dered the  raising  of  such  questions  unnecessary.  Certain  changes 
in  the  college  were  taking  place,  as  it  appears,  during  his  absence ; 
some  also  preceding  his  departure.  By  one  of  these  he  was 
relieved  from  connection  with  the  college,  and  the  responsibility 
therein  involved.  This,  however,  was  only  for  a  short  time;  as 
we  find  him,  later,  in  his  old  position,  which  he  retained  until  just 
before  his  removal  to  Virginia.  A  couple  of  letters  to  his  friend  and 
colleague,  Professor  Wing,  written  during  this  Northern  tour,  may, 
at  this  point,  be  properly  inserted. 

NEW  BEDFORD,  MASS.,  September  3d,  1833. 
"BEV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER: — 

"  I  have  not  received  any  letter  from  you  yet,  except  that  which 
contained  Mr.  Otey's  testimonials,  but  I  have  just  learned  by  a 
letter  of  Mrs.  S.'s  that  you  have  written  two  others,  and  I,  there- 
fore, sit  down  to  answer  them,  by  way  of  anticipation.  If  they 
were  directed  to  Saratoga,  they  probably  arrived  after  I  left  it,  and 
will  be  found  forwarded  to  New  York  by  the  time  I  reach  that  city. 

"  My  last  letter  to  Mrs.  S.  was  from  Boston.  The  day  after  I 
wrote,  I  returned  with  0.  to  Andover,  and  tarried  till  Saturday, 
hearing  Dr.  Woods  lecture  once  in  the  meantime.  On  Saturday 
I  went  over  to  Lowell,  and  spent  the  Sunday  with  brother  Edson, 
preaching  for  him,  sorely  against  my  will,  but  he  was  so  hospitable 
and  kind,  and  withal,  so  urgent,  that  I  held  forth  morning  and 
afternoon.  The  only  ill  effect  was  the  usual  languor  on  Monday, 
and  an  increase  of  the  pain  in  my  side.  In  the  evening  of  Sunday, 
a  black  brother  preached  in  the  same  pulpit,  wearing  a  pair  of 
silver  spectacles,  and  a  gown  and  bands  like  myself;  indeed,  the 


80  MEMOIR    OF 

likeness  was  very  complete,  except  the  color  of  the  skin,  which,  you 
know,  is  nothing,  and  the  circumstance  that,  whereas,  I  have  a 
superabundance  of  nose,  he  has  a  remarkable  deficiency.  His 
name  is  L.,  from  Baltimore.  He  was  begging  for  means  to  pay  off 
a  debt  hanging  over  his  church,  and  an  African  school  which  he 
teaches.  He  got  between  forty  and  fifty  dollars.  His  sermon  was 
sound,  being  strictly  scriptural,  that  is  to  say,  composed  almost 
entirely  of  Scripture.  On  Monday  I  returned  to  Boston,  and  saw 
S. ;  also  attended  a  monthly  missionary  meeting  which  he  conducted, 
assisted  by  Rev.  Mr.  M.,  from  Virginia.  Yesterday  morning  (Tues- 
day) I  started  for  this  place.  Tell  Mrs.  S.  I  have,  as  yet,  seen  only 
Mrs.  P.  and  family.  They  have  sent  the  chaise  for  Mrs.  P.,  and 
before  I  finish,  she  may  be  here.  I  expect  to  leave  this  on  Friday, 
for  New  York,  whence  I  shall  write  again. 

"  I  suppose  you  would  like  to  hear  something  of  my  travels,  and 
the  persons  and  incidents  I  met  with,  but  my  budget  is  so  large, 
that  I  have  not  a  tithe  of  the  room,  in  this  small  sheet,  to  display 
my  wares  on.  When  we  meet,  and  I  get  into  a  story-telling 
vein,  I  shall  be  able  to  do  something  towards  gratifying  your 
Yankee  curiosity.  The  time  I  spent  in  Andover,  was  not  unprofit- 
ably  spent,  only  it  was  too  short.  In  some  things  I  was  disap- 
pointed, and  in  some  pleased.  C.  is  preparing  himself  to  go  as  a 
translator,  to  some  foreign  missionary  station,  thinking  that  his 
deafness,  which  appears  to  have  increased,  will  stand  in  his  way  in 
other  respects. 

"The  day  after  to-morrow,  there  is  to  be  a  convocation  of  the 
clergy  of  Massachusetts  in  Lowell.  You  have  seen  the  notice  of 
it  in  the  'Churchman.'  The  Bishop  is  to  attend  it,  and  it  is  to  be 
continued  monthly,  from  parish  to  parish,  where  the  ministers  and 
people  are  in  favor  of  it.  Fourteen  or  fifteen  parishes  have  given  in 
their  adhesion  to  the  plan,  but  several  of  the  High-Church  clergy 
and  congregations  stand  aloof.  Brother  Wing,  this  Socinianism  is  a 
fearful  thing.  Where  it  does  not  corrupt  the  theory,  it  eats  out  the 
spirit  of  religion,  and  worse  than  all  the  rest,  many  who  hold  it  in 
theory  and  practice,  continue  in  our  congregations.  It  is  said  that 
*  *  *  Church  contains  a  great  many  Unitarians.  Does  not  this 
show  that  it  is  not  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  which  gives  offence ; 
that  this  is  only  the  pretext — that  they  are  offended  mainly  by  the 
everlasting  cry  of  the  Evangelical  orthodox,  'ye  must  be  born 
again/  But  I  must  break  off  this  strain  till  we  meet,  if  God 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  81 

should  so  far  bless  me.  You  are  now  in  the  midst  of  Convention 
business ;  0  how  my  heart  aches  that  I  cannot  be  with  you ;  but  I 
have  done  right.  My  only  chance  of  a  permanent  abode  in  Ohio 
is  in  a  complete  restoration  this  fall.  So  fully  am  I  persuaded  of 
this,  that  much  as  I  long  to  see  home  again,  I  would  tarry  till 
November,  if  means  permitted.  Should  it  please  God  that  my 
health  be  not  restored  in  Ohio,  this  journey  has,  at  least,  prepared 
the  way  for  my  settlement  elsewhere.  I  suppose  that  you  are  putting 
up  the  front  of  my  house  and  building  the  new  one.  As  to  this  new 
building,  my  views  have  been  often  expressed  before.  I  do  not  wish 
it  to  fall  below  the  average  of  things  in  Gambier,  as  I  perceive  that 
the  standard  in  such  matters  is  likely  to  be  much  raised.  ^  You  are, 
by  this  time,  in  my  study.  I  pray  you  may  find  it  a  place  of  plea- 
santer  toil  and  better  health,  than  I  have  found  it. 

I  trust  in  God  you  are  all  still  preserved  from  the  cholera.  My 
mind  grows  easier  on  this  head  than  it  was.  At  first  it  made  me 
wretched,  and  with  difficulty  could  I  restrain  myself  from  an  imme- 
diate return;  but  the  silence  of  the  papers,  and  Mrs.  S.'s  letter  to 
Mrs.  P.,  have  set  me  at  rest,  comparatively.  My  kind  regards  to 
all  friends. 

"Your  friend  and  brother,  "W.  SPARROW." 

"NEW  YORK,  September  10,  18-33. 
"DEAR  BROTHER — 

"  I  arrived  here  this  morning,  in  the  steamboat  from  Newport, 
and  found  two  letters  from  you  awaiting  my  arrival,  and  three  from 
Mrs.  S.  Of  course  I  have  been  much  comforted  on  the  whole, 
though  they  contain  some  things  not  very  pleasant.  I  hope  that 
you  are  not  suffering  from  the  fever.  I  understand  it  has  appeared 
among  you,  and  a  stranger  told  me  in  the  boat,  yesterday,  that  the 
fall  fevers  had  begun,  in  the  western  part  of  New  York,  with 
considerable  severity. 

"  I  wish  I  could  have  received  your  letters,  to  answer  them  in 
time,  before  the  meeting  of  Convention.  If  you  wished  for  my 
mind  I  also  would  wish  to  give  it,  on  one  or  two  points.  Cheapness 
has  always  appeared  a  most  important  feature  in  the  college;  and 
no  slang  of  'cheap  shop,'  or  anything  else  of  the  kind,  can  make  me 
waver  on  the  point.  Why  increase  the  expenses,  and  put  the 
benefits  of  a  collegiate  education  beyond  the  reach  of  our  farmers' 
sons?  Surely,  it  is  desirable  that  the'  thing  be  as  common  as 
6 


82  MEMOIR    OF 

possible.  Are  we  about  to  increase  our  style  of  living,  so  as  to 
make  an  increase  of  revenue  necessary !  Then  the  glory  is  departed 
from  us.  Once  the  pride  of  life  gets  in,  Kenyon  becomes  like  any 
other  Institution.  Its  irreligious  tendency  may  be  abated  and 
checked,  for  a  time,  by  the  faithful  ministrations  of  our  President. 
But  when  we  substitute  style  for  simplicity,  we  introduce  a  system 
of  means  hostile  to  the  influences  of  the  pulpit  and  the  prayer  meet- 
ing, and  subversive  of  their  effect.  I  have  been  in  New  England, 
and  am  more  and  more  enamored  of  simplicity  and  godly  sincerity, 
and  hope  that  we  have  men  among  us  ready  to  exert  themselves  in 
pursuing  the  course  recommended  by  Bishop  Meade.  I  presume 
you  will  remember  it.  But  the  die  is  now  cast,  and  I  can  only  hope 
all  has  been  directed  and  overruled  by  infinite  wisdom. 

"Tell  Mrs.  S.  that  I  shall  write  to-morrow  or  next  day,  and  will 
say  something  about  my  health.  It  would  not  be  wise  to  touch  that 
subject  now,  as  I  slept,  or  rather  lay,  on  a  narrow  settee,  with  a 
sheet  and  a  blanket,  and  no  pillow,  and  in  the  midst  of  two  hundred 
people,  in  the  steamboat,  last  night.  You  may  judge  I  do  not  feel 
over  well.  Remember  me  affectionately  to  all  friends,  and  believe 
me,  under  every  change,  in  truth  and  feeling, 

"  Your  brother  in  Christ,  W.  SPARROW. 

Eecords  in  the  fragment  of  diary  already  quoted  from,  at  long 
intervals,  continue  during  the  next  three  years.  It  will  be  seen,  as 
they  proceed,  that  the  writer  does  not  spare  himself,  or  take  self- 
complacent  views,  either  of  his  intellectual  or  spiritual  progress. 
At  times,  indeed,  there  is  a  tone  of  despondency  that  is  almost 
morbid;  not  improbably  connected  with  the  infirm  condition  of 
health  to  which  he  was  liable.  They  afford  illustrations  of  a  state- 
ment, already  quoted  from  one  of  his  friends,  when  he  speaks  of  a 
"habit  of  self-depreciation,  to  which  he  gave  way,"  and  of  his  "al- 
ways putting  too  low  a  price  upon  himself  and  his  work." 

"  January  28,  1834.  $t  is  surely  time  to  make  some  note.  How 
much  has  God  blessed  me-  since  the  period  of  my  last  record !  I 
have  been  brought  home  again  in  safety  and  in  improved  health, 
and  up  to  this  time  have  not,  materially,  failed ;  but  have  been  able 
to  accomplish  more  than  usual.  Lord,  I  thank  Thee  for  Thy  mercy, 
and.  pray  Thee  to  give  me  strength  to  prove  my  gratitude  by  a  life 
of  more  engagedness  in  Thy  service. 

('  \  have  entered  upon  the  important  duty  of  teaching  a  theological 


WILLIAM    SPAKRO  W,   D.  D.  83 

class.  How  unequal  am  I  to  the  task !  How  imperfect  my  furni- 
ture of  talent,  strength,  knowledge,  heart,  and  spirit.  Lord,  pity 
and  guide,  enlighten  and  direct  me,  for  the  sake  of  Christianity, 
and  of  those  committed  to  my  care,  and  of  those  who  shall  be 
committed  to  their  care.  My  station  is  at  the  fountain  of  truth, 
whence  flow  streams  watering  many  a  distant  region.  May  these 
waters  never  be  adulterated,  or  in  any  way  polluted  by  my  means." 

This  last  record  will  be  better  understood,  in  the  light  of  an 
extract  from  the  bishop's  report,  for  this  year,  to  the  Convention. 
It  will  thus  be  seen  to  have  reference,  not  so  much  to  instruction 
given  by  Mr.  Sparrow,  as  theological  professor,  as  to  the  more  sys- 
tematic arrangement  of  the  classes,  in  a  regular  course,  with  a  theo- 
logical faculty.  "  During  the  last  year,"  says  this  report,  "  a  regular 
course  of  study  under  three  professors,  one  of  church  government, 
and  the  duties  of  the  pastoral  office ;  a  second,  of  systematic  theology 
and  church  history;  and  a  third,  of  the  literature  and  interpretation 
of  the  sacred  Scriptures,  has  been  diligently  pursued ;  and  a  number 
of  students,  quite  as  great  as  could  be  expected  in  the  first  year  of 
the  arrangement  of  a  theological  course,  have  been  in  attendance." 
The  number  of  candidates  for  the  ministry,  in  the  diocese,  mentioned 
in  the  same  report,  is  fifteen.  In  view  of  these  encouraging  pros- 
pects of  increased  influence  and  usefulness,  the  above  record  seems 
to  have  been  made. 

"  March  12.  Another  birthday  has  come,  but  there  is  little  to 
cheer  me  in  the  recurrence.  My  whole  life  seems  to  be  nothing 
more  than  a  blot.  Nothing  has  been  done  for  Christ,  or  His  Church, 
or  the  world.  Time  has  been  frittered  away  in  idle  purposes.  I 
have  planned  badly  and  executed  worse ;  and  the  great  source  of 
the  evil  is  not  my  want  of  health,  however  great,  or  anything  of 
an  external  nature,  but  my  want  of  a  right  spirit.  I  read  Presi- 
dent Edwards'  Resolves  last  night;  how  exactly  are  my  deficiencies 
in  many  cases  there  pointed  out !  Lord  pardon  and  help  me.  I 
would  cast  out  of  my  mind  extraneous  things,  and  do  my  proper 
work.  I  would  cease  to  be  troubled  about  many  things,  attending 
to  the  one  thing  needful.  I  would  repress  that  impatience  which, 
because  it  cannot  effect  everything,  does  nothing.  When  my  next 
birthday  comes,  if  it  ever  comes  to  me,  may  I  be  enabled  to  look 
back  and  see  that  the  year  has  accomplished  something.  The  past 
has  accomplished  nothing.  May  God  pardon  and  help,  for  Jesus' 
sake." 


84  MEMOIR    OF 

"May  25,  Sunday.  Have  I  any  reason  to  believe  that  I  am 
advancing  in  the  Divine  life,  if  indeed  I  live  in  the  Lord?  When  I 
look  back  upon  seasons  past,  when  I  was  young  in  the  profession  of 
religion,  I  seem  like  one  in  the  infirmities  and  pains  of  age  looking 
back  upon  the  vigor  and  happiness  of  youth.  My  religion  is  seated 
too  much  in  my  head,  too  little  in  my  heart.  Now  and  again  I 
attain  very  imperfect  glimpses  of  what  my  affections  and  habit  of 
mind  ought  to  be,  but  that  is  all.  The  causes  and  occasions  of  my 
present  coldness  are  various.  One  is,  I  study  religion  too  much 
as  a  science,  and  having  to  do  this  in  poor  health,  with  little 
vigor  of  mind  and  body,  it  leaves  me  little  time  or  ability  for  pri- 
vate religious  exercises.  It  is  very  doubtful  if  I  am  justified  in 
retaining  my  present  position,  in  which  professional  duties  so  much 
interfere  with  private  and  personal.  The  world  engrosses  too 
much  of  my  heart.  I  see  its  vanity.  I  have  no  schemes  reaching 
far  into  the  future.  I  am  sometimes  most  deeply  impressed  with 
the  truth  that  few  and  evil  are  the  days  of  my  life,  and  yet  I  seem 
to  be  engrossed  with  little  matters  more  than  is  justifiable.  And, 
again,  I  have  got  my  mind  into  a  trifling  unsteady  state,  so  that  I 
read  and  think  to  little  effect.  I  have  a  greedy  and  abortive  kind 
of  curiosity,  which  must  be  corrected  for  the  sake  of  my  mind  and 
heart.  It  is  utterly  opposed  to  that  calm  and  self-collected  spirit 
which  religion  produces.  I  am,  also,  infirm  of  purpose,  so  that  if, 
in  the  midst  of  this  mental  dissipation,  I  see  and  resolve  upon  the 
right,  it  is  of  no  avail ;  my  memory  loses  sight  of  the  vow,  or  my 
will  is  too  weak  to  put  it  in  execution.  Moreover,  I  allow  unim- 
portant matters  to  take  the  place  of  duty.  I  have  no  ardor  in  the 
discharge  of  my  proper  duties.  My  ardor  is  spent  on  trifles,  and  duty 
is  a  task.  The  main  reason  seems  to  be  that  duty  is  continuous, 
and  requires  perseverance,  whereas  I  am  desultory  and  unsteady. 
I  drift  a  little  into  this  and  that,  get  here  half  an  idea,  and  there  a 
quarter,  without  reflection  and  the  exercise  of  judgment,  and  this 
is  easy  and  pleasant,  requiring  no  effort  and  indulging  sloth. 
Impatience  seems,  in  a  measure,  at  the  bottom  of  all  this,  but  be 
that  as  it  may,  I  am  in  a  wretched  state.  I  '  am  ever  learning  and 
never  issuing  to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth.'  Seeking  to  know  all 
things,  I  really  know  nothing.  I  have  dealt  most  unwisely  and 
unfaithfully  with  the  endowments,  both  of  body  and  of  mind,  which 
I  have  received  at  God's  hand,  and  with  the  advantages  which,  in 
His  providence,  I  have  enjoyed.  God,  in  mercy,  forgive  me." 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,  D.  D.  85 

Over  against  these  bitter  things,  thus  written  against  himself, 
there  follows,  a  few  months  afterward,  but  manifestly  with  no  ex- 
tenuating object,  a  record  of  work  and  duty  which  shows  that  his 
time,  with  their  performance,  must  have  been  very  largely  filled  ; 
that,  perhaps,  what  he  really  needed  was  not  additional  and  more 
faithful  work,  but  relaxation — physical  and  mental.  This  would 
have  enabled  him  to  work  with  more  satisfaction,  and  to  have  looked 
back  upon  the  results  with  less  self-accusation. 

"October  4.  If  I  am  ever  going  to  improve,  the  time  seems  fairly 
to  have  arrived.  I  am  comfortably  settled  in  my  dwelling,  I  have 
a  competence,  and  my  daily  duty  is  plainly  set  before  me.  God 
grant  me  both  will  and  ability  to  discharge  my  stewardship." 

"  My  duties  are  those  of  the  Vice  Presidency,  those  of  the  Milnor 
professorship,  those  of  the  editorship,  and  those  of  the  moral  phil- 
osophy professorship.  But  am  I  to  do  nothing  in  preaching  the 
gospel — the  gospel  of  my  Lord  and  Saviour  ?  What  is  my  excuse  ? 
How  can  I  answer  for  this  neglect?  I  excuse  myself,  I  hope  God 
excuses  me,  on  the  ground  of  my  feeble  health,  and  small  talents, 
and  my  doing  something  in  that  way  through  the  lecture  room  and 
the  Gambier  "Observer."  But  I  must  take  heed  that  my  heart 
does  not  grow  cold,  in  this  long  absence  from  the  pulpit." 

The  closing  sentences  of  this  extract  have  their  natural  connec- 
tion with  a  fact  occurring  within  the  few  months  preceding  that  of 
Mr.  Sparrow's  resignation  from  his  charge  of  the  congregation  of 
Mount  Vernon.  This  charge  had  been  in  connection  with  his  duties 
in  the  college  and  seminary,  but,  in  view  of  his  delicate  health,  had 
been  discontinued. 

"  1835.  Christmas  Day.  Another  of  these  memorial  days  has 
rolled  around,  and  what  has  it  brought?  The  recollections  of  the 
year  are  full  of  interest;  but  so  many  are  those  of  regret  and 
self-reproach,  that  I  can  take  little  pleasure  in  them.  I  have 
received  many  lessons,  and  have  learned  little  from  them.  Still  I 
trust  I  have  learned  something.  God  forbid  that  it  should  be 
altogether  in  vain  that  I  have  been  warned  so  often  by  my  own 
sickness,  and  above  all,  that  death  should  be  allowed  to  take  away 
my  precious  little  Maria.  Lord,  give  me  entire  resignation  to  Thy 
will,  by  convincing  me  more  and  more  of  Thy  wisdom  and  mercy, 
and  enabling  me  to  realize  that  my  deceased  babe  will  live  again, 
nay,  does  already  live,  through  atoning  blood,  in  the  fullness  of  joy 
at  Thy  right  hand;  and  that  I  also,  and  my  dear  partner,  and  my 


86  MEMOIROP 

other  precious  children,  may,  after  being  scattered  from  their 
earthly  home,  be  gathered  again  into  a  heavenly  one.  0  Lord  our 
God,  prepare  our  hearts  for  this,  and  give  us  assurance  of  it. 
Then  shall  every  tear  be  dried,  and  every  sigh  be  hushed." 

The  event  thus  alluded  to,  the  first  death  in  his  household,  that 
of  a  darling  child,  is  thus  described  by  an  intimate  friend,  who 
aided  in  nursing  during  its  sickness.  The  whole  account,  with  the 
statements  following,  bring  out  the  peculiar  features  of  Mrs. 
Sparrow's  character  already  mentioned. 

"  I  think  the  little  child  was  about  two  years  old.  The  night 
she  died  I  wished  to  sit  up  with  Mrs.  Sparrow.  But  when  she 
saw,  what  I  did  not,  that  the  child  was  dying,  she  insisted  so 
strongly  that  I  should  leave  her,  that  I  did ;  and  when  she  came  to 
my  room,  and  I  asked  her  how  she  was, '  she  is  at  rest,'  was  the 
answer.  They  were  both,  the  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Sparrow,  very 
submissive  to  the  trial,  which  to  them  was  very  great." 

"1836.  Sunday,  January  24.  Life  will  have  soon  slipped 
through  my  hands,  if  I  do  not  take  heed;  and  what  account  shall 
I  have  to  give?  'I  have  resolved,  and  re-resolved,  and  die  the 
same.'  This  will  be  my  whole  history.  Lord  pity,  and  forgive, 
and  help. 

"  I  have  recently  read  Todd's  '  Student '  and  Edwards'  '  Eesolves,' 
but  how  little  am  I  of  what  the  one  describes  or  the  other 
practiced?  Wherein  am  I  wrong  ?  1. 1  do  not  value  and  improve 
time.  2.  What  I  do  I  do  slothfully,  and  not  with  all  my  might. 
3.  I  indulge  in  reverie  to  no  profit.  4.  I  dissipate  my  attention 
upon  a  variety  of  objects.  5.  I  want  perseverance  in  everything. 

6.  I  am  governed  by  impulse,  not  regulated  by  a  sense  of  duty. 

7.  I  do  not  control  my  appetite  so  as  will  best  promote  sana  mens 
in  sano  corpore.     8.  I  am  not  sufficiently  studious  of  the  original 
Scriptures.     9.  I  do  not  pray  without  ceasing.     10.  I  procrastinate 
irksome  duties.     11.  I  am   perplexed  and   cast  down   from  not 
laying  more  steady  hold  of  divine  comforts.     12.  I  do  not  exercise 
sufficiently  for  health.     13.  I  do  not  devote  time  enough  to  my 
children. 

"But,  alas,  there  is  no  end  to  the  catalogue.  Can  I  not  amend, 
even  for  the  week  to  come,  or  must  I  give  up  in  despair  ?  Great 
things  must  not  be  attempted ;  what  little  things  can  I  do  ?  With 
God's  grace  I  will  do  this  much. 


WILLIAM    SPARRO  W,   D.  D.  87 

"  1.  Read  twelve  verses  of  Hebrew  and  review,  per  diem. 

"2.  Bide  to  town  and  back  at  noon. 

"  3.  Deny  myself  at  table.     My  allowance  such  as  will  leave  me 
with  an  appetite. 

"4.  I  will  get  my  recitations  ready,  and  write  all  my  letters." 

Here  the  record  closes,  probably,  from  its  abruptness,  by  an 
interruption,  and  there  is  no  resumption. 

Returning  from  these  extracts,  we  are  reminded  of  a  particular 
work,  to  which  allusion,  more  than  once,  has  already  been  made, 
that  of  the  editorship  of  the  diocesan  paper,  the  Grambier  '  Ob- 
server.' This  paper  was  started  in  1830,  under  the  editorship  of 
Professor  Sparrow,  and  we  find  his  name  connected  with  it  in  1834, 
in  company  with  that  of  Professor  Wing.  In  1831,  2  and  3,  Pro- 
fessor Wing  appears  as  sole  editor.  It  appears  that  during  this 
whole  time  Professor  Sparrow  was  working,  to  the  extent  of  his 
power,  and  even  after  the  last  of  these  dates,  for  the  benefit  of  this 
publication.  The  object  in  view  was  not  so  much  controversy  as 
that  of  giving  religious  information,  of  advancing  practical  Chris- 
tianity. "The  articles,"  says  the  opening  prospectus,  "which  may 
be  expected  to  occupy  the  columns  of  this  work,  will  be  of  the  fol- 
lowing kind :  —  Essays  on  the  doctrines  and  duties  of  religion ; 
sketches  from  ecclesiastical  history;  religious  biography;  corres- 
pondence of  persons  eminent  for  their  piety  and  talents ;  missionary 
intelligence;  proceedings  of  Bible,  tract,  Sunday-school,  and  tem- 
perance societies,  and  other  moral  and  benevolent  institutions; 
notices  and  reviews  of  new  publications;  poetry,  selected  and 
original;  summaries  of  news,  literary,  political,  and  miscellaneous." 
"It  is  with  unfeigned  diffidence,"  says  the  opening  editorial,  "the 
present  publication  is  commenced.  Entire  inexperience  in  matters 
of  this  kind,  and  the  heavy  pressure  of  other  duties,  prior  in  obli- 
gation, and  paramount  in  importance,  make  us  feel  a  real  distrust 
of  our  competency  to  the  undertaking.  Why,  then,  it  may  be 
asked,  is  the  thing  attempted  ?  In  answering  the  question  we  can 
truly  say  it  is  not  with  the  expectation  of  personal  emolument ;  for 
should  any  profits  arise  from  the  work,  they  are  pledged  to  charit- 
able purposes.  Nothing  can  accrue  to  us  but  trouble  and  expense. 
We  engage  in  this  enterprise  only  with  the  hope  of  promoting,  in 
some  small  degree,  with  the  blessing  of  the  Spirit,  the  reign  of 
righteousness  and  peace  in  the  earth.  The  '  set  time  to  favor  Zion ' 
seems  to  have  arrived;  and  we,  amid  the  crowd  of  His  more  efficient 


88  MEMOIROF 

servants,  would  offer  ourselves  as  feeble  but  willing  instruments  in 
accomplishing  God's  purposes  of  mercy." 

It  is,  of  course,  impossible,  now,  to  identify  contributions,  except 
those  which  are  strictly  editorial.  The  reference  of  these  latter 
were  generally  to  passing  events  and  circumstances,  and  do  not, 
therefore,  afford  material  for  extracts  bearing  upon  our  specific 
object.  Professor  Sparrow's  connection  with  the  paper  is  mainly 
of  interest,  as  showing  one  of  the  many  modes  in  which,  at  this 
time,  he  made  his  influence  felt,  and  exerted  it  for  good.  It  also 
constitutes  an  indication  as  to  the  amount  and  variety  of  labor  which 
was  actually  going  on  while  he  was  charging  himself,  in  his  diary, 
with  failure  and  inefficiency.  These  self-condemning  accusations 
show  that  his  standard  of  excellence  was  high.  But  the  estimate  of 
those  with  whom  and  upon  whom  he  was  working  shows  that  this 
work  was  not  only  effective  and  abundant,  but  fully  appreciated. 
Such  was  the  case  with  his  students,  whether  those  in  the  seminary 
or  under  his  government  in  the  college.  It  was  no  less  the  case 
with  his  associates  and  fellow-professors.  The  real  wonder  is  that 
in  such  condition  of  health  he  should  have  been  able  to  attend  to  so 
great  a  variety  of  duty  and  employment. 

In  the  year  1838  he  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Divinity.  His  estimate  of  such  titles  is  given  in  a  very  amusing 
letter,  written  some  thirty  years  later,  to  a  pupil  who  had  just  been 
doctored.  In  one  written  only  a  year  or  two  after  his  reception 
of  the  title,  it  will  be  seen  that  he  was  rather  embarrassed  by  it  than 
otherwise.  This  last  has  its  interest  with  regard  to  other  points, 
especially  as  throwing  light  upon  his  feelings  and  state  of  mind  as 
a  seeker  of  truth  and  knowledge,  and  as  endeavoring,  by  his  ser- 
mons, to  bring  it  to  bear  upon  the  minds  of  others.  How  strangely 
different  his  own  opinion  and  that  of  his  hearers  as  to  the  merits  of 
his  sermons.  One  who  did  not  know  him  thoroughly,  would  hardly 
know  how  to  take  such  language.  Undoubtedly  it  came  from  the 
very  bottom  of  his  heart. 

"  GAMBIER,  March  28th,  1838. 
"  REV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER  : — 

"  Your  letter  arrived  last  night,  and  was  most  welcome  to  both 
myself  and  Mrs.  Sparrow.  I  had  long  been  wishing  to  hear  from 
you,  as  I  am  endeavoring  to  prove  by  a  prompt  reply. 

"I  am  much  pleased  to  hear  that  you  are  so  delightfully  situated. 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  89 

The  scenery  with  which  you  are  surrounded  must  be  to  you  an 
exhaustless  source  of  pleasure,  and  the  society  of  the  family  in 
which  you  live  a  continual  feast.  There  seems  nothing  in  your 
account  of  yourself  which  does  not  cheer  your  old  friend,  except 
your  despondency  in  regard  to  your  performances  and  prospects  of 
usefulness.  With  such  feelings  I  can  deeply  sympathize,  for 
though,  on  account  of  my  Irish  peculiarities,  of  an  external  kind,  it 
might  seem  as  if  I  had  a  very  comfortable  opinion  of  myself  and 
my  doings,  my  poor  fagged  and  jaded  heart  knows  full  well  all 
about  the  depression  which  you  now  experience.  If  I  am  ever 
sanguine  or  self-confident,  it  is  only  for  a  moment;  the  settled 
habit  of  my  mind  is  a  deep  consciousness  of  my  own  deficiencies  of 
mind  and  heart — a  consciousness  that  they  are  infinitely  greater 
than  any  creature  besides  myself  is  at  all  aware  of,  and  which  is, 
therefore,  accompanied  with  a  feeling  that  I  am  acting  a  part, 
appearing,  if  not  professing  to  be,  what  in  truth  I  am  not.  My 
office  as  professor  and  vice  president,  let  me  say,  and  my  very  title 
of  D.D.,  ever  since  I  have  borne  them,  have  in  this  way  been  sources 
of  permanent  annoyance.  The  fable  of  the  ass  in  the  lion's  skin  is 
constantly  before  me.  What  you  say  about  your  possessing  '  little 
talent/  or  even  'no  talent,'  my  own  feelings  tell  me  I  ought  to  take 
and  apply  to  myself.  Think  not,  therefore,  that  '  some  strange 
thing  hath  happened  unto  you ;'  your  lot,  in  this  respect,  is  not 
peculiar. 

"But  you  will  tell  me,  though  'misery  loves  company,'  it  is  not 
much  alleviated  thereby.  Well,  then,  let  us  both  remember  that  the 
Creator  and  Ruler  of  the  world  has  ordained  that  there  should  be 
men  of  all  grades  of  talent  in  the  world  and  in  the  Church,  and 
that  he  can  find  work  for  all,  and  that  all  may  be  happy  in  his 
employment.  This  is  my  chief  consolation ;  let  it  be  yours  also. 
One  of  the  evils  incident  to  a  desire  for  improvement,  is  that  it 
may  be  carried  so  far  as  to  issue  in  discontentedness  with  what  we 
are  and  have,  in  an  intellectual  way.  This  is  a  'sore  evil/  as 
Solomon  would  say.  It  is  a  great  source  of  present  uneasiness,  and, 
as  I  know  by  sad  experience,  it  actually  stands  in  the  way  of  future 
progress.  Let  us,  then,  try  to  unite  contented  acquiescence  in 
the  measure  of  attainment  allowed  us  now,  with  a  steady  and 
moderate  effort  after  excellence  in  the  time  to  come. 

"  A  word  on  sermonizing.  Who  that  ever  wrote  a  sermon  did 
not  loathe  it  after  it  was  finished  ?  Certainly  I  never  did.  To  say 


90  MEMOIR    OF 

nothing  of  more  substantial  reasons,  does  it  not  naturally  arise 
from  the  close  scrutiny  with  which,  in  the  course  of  composition, 
we  have  examined  all  its  parts  ?  A  plate  of  polished  steel,  seen 
through  a  microscope,  is  like  a  plowed  field :  how  much  more 
will  this  apply,  even  in  the  case  of  a  good  sermon!  Another  point. 
I  have  spoken  above  of  an  incidental  evil ;  another  such  evil  con- 
nected with  such  study  as  you  have  gone  through,  however  imper- 
fect, is  a  straining  after  new  ideas.  An  uneducated  man  is  content 
with  common-places ;  an  educated  man  looks  for  something  more  ; 
and  let  him  look;  but  let  him  also  remember  that  nineteen- 
twentieths  of  the  staple  instruction  of  a  people,  from  the  pulpit, 
must  be  'things  old.'  The  body  is  fed  and  nourished  by  substan- 
tially the  same  food  throughout  the  year,  and  it  is  only  now  and  then 
that  a  new  dish  is  or  can  be  indulged  in.  Only  let  the  cooking  and 
serving  up  be  our  own,  and  let  that  be  done  carefully  and  neatly,  and 
our  chief  duty  is  performed.  That  you  can  do  all  this,  I  believe, 
in  spite  of  your  desponding  fears. 

"But  I  see  that  I  am  wasting  my  paper  in  prosing,  when  I  ought 
to  be  about  other  matters.  Do  you  know  I  am  going  to  be  absent 
from  the  Institution  all  the  summer  ?  I  have  got  a  furlough  from 
the  Trustees  till  November  1st.  At  present  I  think  of  going 
to  Europe,  and  am  trying  to  raise  funds,  but  I  fear  it  will  prove 
one  of  the  impossible  things.  If  I  should  not  go  to  Europe,  I  shall 
travel  across  the  mountains,  and  perhaps,  in  my  wanderings,  stop 
to  see  you  in  Honeywood.  Would  you  not  be  surprised  to  learn 
that  Mr.  Sparrow  was  at  the  door,  inquiring  for  his  old  pupil  ?  If 
I  go  to  Europe,  I  leave  home  soon,  say  in  a  fortnight ;  if  not,  I 
shall  remain  here  until  the  summer  is  pretty  well  advanced.  You 
understand  that  the  furlough  was  asked  and  obtained  on  account 
of  my  health,  which  has  been  miserable  the  past  winter. 

"  And  now,  my  dear  Mr.  B.,  I  must  close.  Mrs.  S.  desires  to  be 
remembered  to  you.  Please  present  my  best  respects  to  Col.  C. 
Write  when  you  can,  and  believe  me,  whether  at  home  or  abroad, 
at  sea  or  on  land,  sick  or  well, 

"  I  am  your  sincere  friend  and  brother, 

Rev.  Alfred  Blake.  "  WM.  SPARROW." 

During  the  fall  and  winter  following  this  letter,  that  of  1838-9,  Dr. 
Sparrow  made  a  visit  to  Europe.  This  was  twenty-one  years  from 
the  time  of  his  departure,  in  1817,  for  America,  and  we  may  easily 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  91 

imagine  the  feelings  with  which  he  revisited  the  home  and  scenes 
of  his  boyhood.  Twenty-one  years  had  doubtless  wrought  great 
changes,  but  many  of  the  old  friends,  and  acquaintances,  and  rela- 
tives whom  he  had  known  in  early  life  still  remained,  and  he  was 
fond  of  telling,  in  years  afterwards,  of  the  mode  in  which  one  of  his 
aunts  received  him — very  much  as  in  his  boyhood,  by  asking  him 
what  she  should  prepare  to  gratify  his  appetite.  At  the  same  time 
there  were  associations  and  changes  that  would  naturally  be  pro- 
ductive of  mournful  feeling.  This,  probably,  was  the  time  of  his 
day's  travel  in  the  vale  of  Avoca,  with  its  remembrances  and  anti- 
cipations, so  many  of  the  latter  to  be  clouded  with  sadness,  when  he 
found,  at  its  close,  his  old  teacher  and  so  many  of  his  fellow-pupils 
no  longer  in  place  to  welcome  him. 

None  of  his  correspondence  during  this  visit  remains,  and  we  are 
unable,  consequently,  to  trace  his  course.  He  was  undoubtedly  on 
the  continent,  and  during  this  visit,  or  that  of  1848,  ten  years  later, 
visited  Geneva.  But  what  other  portions  of  the  continent  were 
visited  we  have  no  means  of  ascertaining.  He  returned  in  the 
spring  of  1839,  and  resumed  his  duties  at  the  College.  We  there 
meet  him,  by  means  of  a  communication  from  one  of  his  pupils,  at 
that  time  in  the  College,  and  as  it  gives  definiteness  to  certain 
impressions  of  his  work,  we  here  present  it  to  our  readers. 

"  I  formed  my  acquaintance  with  our  dear  old  Professor,  to 
whom  we  owe  so  much,  and  whose  memory  we  shall  always  love 
and  cherish,  during  my  college  life  in  1839,  when  I  was  a  boy  of 
fifteen,  and  he  in  the  full  prime  of  life.  My  impressions  of  him, 
therefore,  at  that  time,  must  be  taken  for  what  they  are  worth,  as 
those  of  a  mere  youth. 

"There  is  an  incident  connected  with  my  introduction  to  him, 
which  I  may  mention  at  my  own  expense,  and  which  may  serve  to 
illustrate,  as  well  as  anything  that  I  can  remember,  the  difiicult 
position  which  the  Doctor  then  occupied,  the  wrong  impressions 
which  young  men  often  associated  with  such  positions,  and  the 
ready  way  in  which  he  disabused  the  minds  of  all  who  had  an 
opportunity  of  knowing  him  in  his  true  character.  When  I  went 
to  Kenyon,  the  college  and  seminary  were  united  under  one  admin- 
istration, having  the  same  board  of  trustees,  and  the  same  Faculty 
of  instructors.  This  had  been  the  case,  I  believe,  from  the 
commencement  of  the  Institution,  when  Bishop  Chase  had  charge 
of  it,  and  Dr.  Sparrow,  who  was  nearly  connected  with  him  by 


92  MEMOIR  OP 

marriage,  was  associated  with  him  as  one  of  the  earliest  professors. 
At  that  early  period  in  the  history  of  the  college,  no  doubt  the 
students  had  quite  a  rough  time,  and  were  kept  under  a  more  rigid 
discipline  than  generally  prevailed  in  such  institutions.  The  tradi- 
tions which  had  come  down  to  the  students  of  my  day,  through 
much  less  than  a  score  of  years,  gave  very  exaggerated  ideas  of 
the  tyranny  and  oppression  that  had  prevailed  under  the  regime  of 
the  old  pioneer  bishop  and  his  coadjutors  at  Gambier.  These 
ideas  were  duly  instilled  into  the  minds  of  most  of  the  new  comers, 
from  session  to  session,  and  as  a  matter  of  course  when  I  entered 
college,  I  fell  heir  to  my  full  share  of  these  traditional  impressions. 
During  the  winter  of  1838-9  Dr.  Sparrow  was  absent  in  Europe, 
and  I  had  no  opportunity  of  knowing  him  until  the  following  spring. 
My  first  interview  with  him  was  brought  about  in  the  following 
manner:  I  was  then  a  thoughtless  youth,  not  much  inclined  to 
stand  in  awe  of  those  in  authority  over  me,  and  very  jealous  of 
certain  imaginary  rights.  Among  other  things,  I  had  heard  that 
Dr.  Sparrow  required  every  student,  on  meeting  him  or  coming 
into  his  presence,  to  take  off  his  hat,  and  assume  a  very  humble  and 
obsequious  manner,  and  I  had  been  told  how  he  had  dealt  roughly 
with  some  offenders  in  these  particulars.  I  had  remarked,  in  a 
rather  boasting  or  defiant  spirit,  that  I  could  not  yield  to  such  a 
requirement,  and  would  only  return  such  tokens  of  politeness  as 
were  shown  by  the  other  party.  One  morning  the  tutor  came  to 
my  room,  and  informed  me  that  Dr.  Sparrow  wished  to  see  me  in  a 
certain  lecture  room.  I  was  somewhat  startled  by  the  announce- 
ment, for  I  took  it  for  granted  that  he  could  only  wish  to  see  me  to 
remind  me  of  some  misdemeanor,  or  to  enforce  some  necessary 
discipline.  So  I  left  my  room  in  a  high  state  of  excitement,  declar- 
ing in  strong  terms,  greatly  to  the  amusement  of  my  room-mate, 
how  I  intended  to  resist  aggression,  and  to  maintain  my  own 
dignity  and  rights.  With  this  very  erroneous  and  absurd  state 
of  feeling,  I  tapped  at  the  Doctor's  door.  Opening  the  door,  I  saw, 
for  the  first  time,  that  delicate  but  majestic  form,  sitting  in  his 
Professor's  chair  behind  the  table,  leaning  back  in  an  almost 
reclining  attitude,  to  rest  after  dismissing  his  class,  with  his  gold 
spectacles  upon  his  brow.  As  soon  as  his  eye  met  mine,  he  asked 

if  I  were  M ?     And  being  answered  in  the  affirmative,  he 

arose  and  approached  me  in  the  kindest  and  most  agreeable 
manner,  and  before  his  hand  had  time  to  reach  mine,  my  hat  was 


WILLIAM    SPARRO  W,   D.   D.  93 

off,  and  I  felt  that  I  could  not  make  any  suitable  acknowledgment 
of  such  kindness  and  courtesy  from  a  man  in  his  position  toward  a 
schoolboy.  He  asked  me  to  have  a  seat  near  him,  and  then  opened 
the  conversation,  as  he  only  could  do,  with  words  of  wise  counsel 
and  tender  interest,  such  as  I  can  never  forget.  He  told  me  that 
on  his  return  from  Europe,  to  his  duties  of  Vice  President  of  the 
college,  he  had  inquired  in  regard  to  the  students,  and  had  learned 
of  me  as  an  only  son,  and  that  my  father's  letter  evinced  so  much 
interest  and  anxiety  on  my  account,  that  his  own  sympathies  were 
touched ;  that  he  was  glad  to  hear  of  improvement  in  my  depart- 
ment, and  he  wished  to  do  what  he  could  to  encourage  me.  -His 
words  and  manner  were  so  kind  and  fatherly,  that  when  I  left  the 
room  I  felt  that  it  had  been  good  for  me  to  be  there.  Never  were 
false  impressions  and  wrong  resolutions  more  speedily  reversed. 
From  that  moment  I  entertained  the  greatest  love  and  reverence 
for  Doctor  Sparrow,  which  grew  the  more  I  knew  of  him,  in  our 
subsequent  relations  of  teacher  and  pupil,  both  at  Kenyon,  and  at 
the  Virginia  Seminary.* 

"  Within  three  months  of  the  above  date  I  was  a  candidate  for 
confirmation,  and,  of  course,  sought  advice  and  instruction  from 
Doctor  Sparrow,  in  my  preparation  for  that  step.  It  was  cheerfully 
and  faithfully  given,  and  was  such  as  might  have  been  expected 
from  one  of  his  character  and  attainments.  It  was  a  rare 
privilege,  at  that  important  crisis  of  one's  life,  to  have  received 
counsel  from  such  a  source.  It  pleased  God,  just  at  that  time,  to 
vouchsafe  such  blessings  to  the  members  of  that  Institution  as 
have  not  been  often  realized.  It  was  not  like  what  is  generally 
known  as  a  'revival/  and  yet  it  vxis  a  revival,  of  the  true 
Scriptural  type — a  season  of  heartfelt  interest  in  spiritual  things — 
pervading  the  very  atmosphere,  and  communicating  itself  from  one 
to  another,  until  every  one  seemed  to  be  under  its  influence,  and  to 

*  As  illustrative  of  the  sort  of  influence  exerted  by  Dr.  Sparrow  in  this  way,  while 
in  charge  of  the  college,  was  the  case  of  an  eminent  public  man,  who, many  years 
afterward,  while  upon  his  deathbed,  received  baptism  at  his  hands.  The  account 
may  be  given  as  derived  from  himself.  "  As  I  was  passing,"  said  he,  "  along  Penn- 
sylvania avenue,  I  was  stopped  by  a  gentleman  calling  to  me  by  name,  and  who  to 
me  was  a  perfect  stranger.  When  he  came  up  he  introduced  himself,  and  reminded 
me  that  he  had  been  a  student  at  Kenyon,  and  that  I  had  once  sent  for  him  to  my 
study  (an  incident  which  the  Doctor  did  not  recall),  to  remonstrate  with  him  in 
regard  to  his  course.  He  regarded  that  remonstrance  as  the  turning  point  in  his  life, 
and  thus  took  the  opportunity  of  making  it  known,  as  also  of  offering  his  grateful 
acknowledgments." 


94  MEMOIROF 

be  in  sympathy  with  the  surrounding  scene.  Doctor  Sparrow 
rejoiced  in  this  season,  and  entered  into  it  with  intense  interest. 
His  sermons,  which  always  abounded  with  rich  views  of  religious 
thought,  such  as  few  minds  could  either  discover  or  pursue,  were 
at  that  time  surpassingly  fine.  He  was  then  in  the  very  vigor  of 
manhood,  and  in  the  maturity  of  his  mental  development.  In  a 
diary  kept  at  that  time,  I  have  a  memorandum  of  his  texts,  together 
with  a  brief  outline  of  his  sermons,  which  show  how  wisely  they 
were  selected,  and  with  what  masterly  power  the  subjects  were 
handled.  In  the  course  of  the  session  a  large  number  of  the 
students  devoted  themselves  to  the  service  of  Christ,  and  many  of 
them  became  useful  and  prominent  men  in  the  Church,  both  as 
clergymen  and  laymen.  This  result  was  due,  in  a  great  measure, 
to  the  influence  of  Dr.  Sparrow,  although  he  modestly  disclaimed 
it,  with  many  earnest  regrets  that  he  could  not  do  more  to  promote 
the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  students. 

"Within  a  year  from  this  time  he  received  the  appointment  of 
professor  in  the  Theological  Seminary  of  Virginia.  It  so  happened 
that  I  then  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  Dr.  Sparrow,  and  talking 
with  him  frequently  while  he  was  preparing  to  take  this  important 
step.  The  idea  of  making  that  change  was  a  great  trial  to  him,  for  up 
to  that  time  all  the  tenderest  associations  of  his  life  were  clustered 
around  that  spot.  He  came  there  in  his  youth;  and  for  many 
years  had  presided  over  that  institution,  and  had  conducted  its 
affairs  with  marked  ability  and  success.  His  name  was  identified 
with  its  entire  history — the  bishop  of  the  diocese  being  the  Presi- 
dent ex-officio,  while  he  was  the  Vice  President  and  acting  President 
of  the  college  Faculty.  The  grave  of  his  father  was  there,  and 
everything  combined  to  make  the  spot  very  dear  to  his  heart.  On 
one  occasion  he  said, '  It  is  very  easy  to  take  up  a  young  scion  and 
transplant  it  in  another  place,  but  if  you  dig  up  a  full  grown  tree, 
and  try  to  remove  it,  there  will  be  so  many  roots  broken  and  so 
many  bruises  inflicted,  that  the  chances  are  against  its  taking  root 
and  flourishing  in  a  new  soil.'  At  length,  when  he  had  decided  to 
go,  the  members  of  the  two  literary  societies  appointed  a  committee 
to  invite  him  to  deliver  a  valedictory  address  at  the  close  of  the 
session.  Being  a  member  of  the  committee,  I  well  remember 
how  gratified  he  was  to  receive  that  expression  of  regard  on  the 
part  of  the  students.  The  request  was  communicated  to  him,  not 
as  a  piece  of  ceremony  or  token  of  respect  due  to  his  official  posi- 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  95 

tion,  but  as  a  mark  of  true  appreciation  and  deep  regret  at  parting 
with  such  a  valuable  member  of  the  Faculty.  After  some  hesitation, 
he  consented  to  the  request,  and  at  the  appointed  time  delivered 
an  address -on  'Truth,'  which  was,  as  might  have  been  expected,  a 
masterly  production.  Some  years  afterward,  while  a  member  of 
the  seminary  at  Alexandria,  I  was  permitted  to  read  that  manu- 
script, and  often  regretted  that  it  was  never  published." 

The  closing  address  thus  alluded  to  is  one  well  worthy  of 
perusal,  and  in  any  future  publication  of  the  doctor's  addresses 
may  properly  find  its  place.  Its  conclusion  is  here  inserted. 

"And  now,  young  gentlemen,  let  me  speak  a  parting  word  to 
you,  and  through  you  to  all  the  students  of  the  Institution.  It  is 
a  matter  of  no  little  gratification  to  my  feelings  that  you  should 
take  so  much  interest  in  my  removal  from  this  place,  as  unanimously 
to  request  me  to  address  you  on  this  occasion.  But  if  it  is  a  matter 
of  interest  to  you,  how  much  more  to  me !  My  local  attachments 
are,  constitutionally,  of  the  very  strongest  kind ;  and  they  have  here 
had  long  time  and  much  seclusion  to  give  them  permanence  and 
strength.  But  they  must  now  be  broken  up,  and  I  must  enter,  by 
personal  experience,  into  the  meaning  of  that  expression  which  I 
have  often  used,  but  never  so  fully  realized  before,  'the  place  that 
now  knows  me  shall  know  me  no  more.'  And  if,  in  such  an  hour, 
the  very  stones  in  the  street  and  the  trees  in  the  wood  around,  and 
the  most  familiar  and  common  objects,  the  moment  the  thought  of 
separation  comes  up,  seem  to  speak  mournfully  of  years  of  inter- 
course which  never  can  return,  how  much  more  painful  to  think 
of  parting  from  persons  who  have  known  and  held  communion  with 
me  since  the  days  of  my  manhood.  Attachments,  moreover,  partly 
professional  and  partly  personal,  have  bound  me  to  the  students  of 
Kenyon  College,  by  association  with  them  from  the  time  it  was  a 
grammar  school  in  the  lowest  forms  to  the  close  of  the  last  college 
year.  Standing  before  you,  therefore,  as  one  formerly  an  officer  of 
the  college,  I  see  represented  in  you  the  classes  I  have  been  con- 
nected with  some  fifteen  years,  and  bidding  farewell  to  you,  I  seem 
to  bid  farewell  to  all.  In  thinking  over  the  anxiety  and  comfort, 
the  joys  and  the  sorrows  which  I  have  experienced,  during  so  large 
a  portion  of  my  life,  it  would  be  strange  indeed,  if  my  heart  did 
not  go  forth  in  all  those  feelings,  one-half  parental,  which  a  profes- 
sional teacher  seeks  to  exercise  and  cherish  toward  those  committed 
to  his  care.  Amidst  much  infirmity  of  every  kind,  which  no  man 


96  MEMOIROF 

knows  so  well  by  observation  of  me,  as  I  do  myself,  by  painful  con- 
sciousness, I  hope  I  can  say,  my  first  desire  has  not  been  to  earn  a 
morsel  of  bread,  but  rather  to  be  useful  to  you  and  to  those  who 
have  gone  before  you.  It  would,  perhaps,  be  unreasonable  to 
expect  that  students  generally  should  make  allowance  for  the  diffi- 
culties, and  fully  appreciate  the  true  desires  and  endeavors  of  those 
who  conduct  their  government  and  discipline.  But  it  soothes  and 
delights  my  heart  to  say  that  I  have  nothing  to  complain  of  in  this 
regard ;  quite  the  reverse ;  I  have  almost  uniformly  met  as  much 
good  will  on  their  part  as  I  could  possibly  desire.  In  the  few  cases 
in  which  it  has  been  withheld  by  single  individuals,  it  has  been 
only  for  a  time;  in  after  life,  out  in  the  broad  world,  it  has  been 
fully  repaid.  While,  therefore,  as  in  every  situation  in  life  I  have 
had  my  trials,  in  this  respect  I  have  been  spared ;  and  I  can  look 
back  upon  my  years  of  labor,  in  connection  with  the  students  of 
Kenyon  College,  with  but  one  feeling  of  regret — that  they  are 
ended.  But  their  memory  need  not  end.  And  when,  in  a  few 
days,  I  remove  from  the  objects  all  around  so  familiar  that  they 
seem  parts  of  myself;  when  I  part  from  friends  even  longer 
acquainted  and  dear  to  me  as  brothers ;  when  I  separate  from  the 
ashes  of  my  children  and  my  father  slumbering  in  this  graveyard ; 
and  break  up  the  associations  of  a  life  never  again  to  take  root  so 
deeply,  I  will  carry  with  me  and  cherish  throughout  my  days  the 
pleasing  reflection  that  I  have  a  place  in  the  heart  of  the  earlier 
students  of  Kenyon  College. 

"  But  there  is  and  shall  be  no  selfishness  in  the  feeling.  My 
removal  does  not  destroy  my  interest  in  the  Institution,  or  any  of 
its  branches.  My  desire  and  prayer  shall  be,  as  for  years  they 
daily  have  been,  that  it  may  more  and  more  promote  those  great 
interests  of  the  human  kind  which  are  paramount  to  all  considera- 
tions of  persons  and  places,  and  of  personal  and  local  feelings.  May 
the  smiles  of  Heaven  rest  upon  it !  May  the  officers  and  students 
be  a  mutual  blessing  and  satisfaction !  And,  when  I  meet  any  who 
have  gone  forth  from  these  walls,  may  I  hear  of  tenfold  more  pros- 
perity than  it  has  been  my  lot  to  witness.  Kenyon  College  is,  and 
ever  shall  be  to  me — not  my  alma  mater,  but  something  far,  far 
more  dear.  Gentlemen,  farewell." 

But  this  address,  as  indicated  in  these  extracts,  and  in  the  letter 
preceding  them,  was  called  forth  in  view  of  a  matter  of  much 
deeper  interest,  that  of  a  change  in  his  residence  and  sphere  of  ope- 


WILLIAM    SPABRO  W,   D.D.  97 

ration.  The  determination  had  been  reached  to  leave  Gambier  and 
to  remove  to  Alexandria.  The  causes  of  this  determination  it  would 
be  difficult,  in  all  respects,  fully  to  explain.  Without  undertaking 
to  do  this,  it  may  be  said  that  there  were  several  which  made 
the  position  of  Dr.  Sparrow  an  embarrassing  one.  The  old  diffi- 
culty as  to  the  limits  of  prerogative  between  the  nominal,  that  is 
the  Episcopal,  and  the  actual,  that  is  the  Academical,  head,  had 
not  been  perfectly  adjusted.  The  action  of  the  Diocesan  Convention 
of  1839  was  rather  in  favor  of  the  former.  Its  further,  and  specific 
action,  by  which  the  President  and  Professors  were  deprived  of  the 
power  of  holding  trusteeships  in  the  institution,  had  its  bearing  in 
the  same  direction.  And  when,  still  further,  the  election  of  a  Pre- 
sident to  fill  the  vacancy  created  by  the  resignation  of  the  Bishop 
took  place,  the  acting  President,  who,  for  twelve  or  fifteen  years 
had  been  performing  its  duties,  was  passed  over,  and  the  office 
given  to  another.  This,  in  view  of  the  relations  of  Dr.  Sparrow 
to  the  College,  could  scarcely  be  agreeable.  The  question,  more- 
over, of  salary,  with  his  large,  dependent  family,  was  one  which  he 
was  obliged  to  consider.  Some  of  the  reminiscences  of  Mr.  Syle, 
towards  the  close  of  this  volume,  bear  upon  this  subject,  and  are  of 
value  as  showing  Dr.  Sparrow's  feelings  under  the  circumstances. 
The  invitation,  within  the  next  twelve  months,  to  Virginia,  relieved 
him  from  an  embarrassing  position.  That  a  very  great  mistake  had 
been  made  in  letting  him  leave  Ohio,  that  a  still  greater  mistake  had 
been  made  in  putting  him  in  a  position  in  which  the  invitation  so  to 
do  would  be  favorably  considered,  very  soon,  but  too  late,  became 
manifest.  The  repeated  and  flattering  invitations  to  return  were 
alike  honorable  to  him  and  to  those  by  whom  they  were  given. 
Some  of  these  will  be  noticed  in  their  proper  place.  It  was  no  doubt 
a  severe  trial  to  make  up  his  mind  to  leave  this  work,  to  which  he 
had  grown,  this  his  peculiar  field  of  ministerial  and  professional  duty 
and  labor,  the  Institutions  which  he  had  so  largely  contributed  to 
found,  and  to  which  nearly  fifteen  of  the  most  laborious  years  of  his 
life  had  been  devoted.  He  seemed,  indeed,  almost  to  feel  as  if  the 
main  part  of  his  work  of  life  had  been  accomplished ;  that  it  would 
be  difficult  if  not  impossible  elsewhere  to  occupy  a  sphere  of  influence 
and  usefulness  equal  to  that  which  he  had  been  filling.  These  feel- 
ings doubtless  took  their  hue  from  what  then  seems  to  have  been  a 
very  strong  conviction,  that,  from  the  state  of  his  general  health, 
his  term  of  usefulness  or  of  labor  would  be  but  a  short  one.  In 
7 


98  MEMOIROF 

reality,  however,  it  was  only  to  transfer  himself  to  a  new  field  of 
usefulness.  And  the  fifteen  years  of  influence  and  work  in  Ohio 
were  to  be  followed  by  thirty-three  more,  no  less  beneficial  and 
gratifying,  in  these  respects,  in  Virginia.  The  change,  moreover, 
had  one  most  desirable  effect.  It  relieved  him  from  one  class  of 
duties,  those  connected  with  college  work  and  administration, 
and  thus  enabled  him  to  devote  himself  entirely  to  the  more  con- 
genial work  of  the  Theological  Professorship.  This,  indeed,  con- 
stitutes one  great  difference  between  Dr.  Sparrow's  recognized 
position  and  influence  in  Ohio  and  in  Virginia.  In  Ohio  he  was 
known  as  a  preacher  and  theological  professor,  but  mainly  and 
more  prominently  as  at  the  head  of  Kenyon  College,  as  the  suc- 
cessful governor  of  a  literary  institution.  In  Virginia,  on  the 
other  hand,  while  known  by  his  previous  reputation  in  these  other 
positions  and  spheres  of  influence,  he  was  peculiarly  known  as  the 
Theological  Professor,  as  having  concentrated  his  energies  upon 
the  work  of  teaching  and  training  men  for  the  ministry.  During 
this  latter  period  he  occupied  other  positions  of  great  importance ; 
was  member  of  Standing  Committee  for  many  years,  delegate  to 
the  General  Convention,  confidential  adviser  of  clerical  pupils  and 
brethren  in  all  directions.  But  these  were  incidental.  His  main 
and  special  work,  as  already  indicated,  was  Theological  teaching, 
the  preparation  and  training  of  Theological  candidates  for  the 
great  work  to  which  they  were  looking  forward.  In  this,  as  we 
have  seen,  he  was  permitted  for  a  third  of  a  century  longer  to  be 
engaged,  and  with  him  in  this  peculiar  sphere  of  effort,  saving  a 
brief  interruption  during  the  war,  will  the  remainder  of  our  nar- 
rative be  occupied. 

The  full  determination  to  make  the  change  from  Ohio  to  Vir- 
ginia was  reached  towards  the  close  of  the  year  1840.  The  fol- 
lowing letter  to  Dr.  Milnor,  in  reference  to  the  Milnor  Professor- 
ship, vacated  by  this  change,  brings  the  account  of  this  period  to 
its  termination. 

"  GAMBIER,  December  17,  1840. 
"  REV.  AND  DEAR  SIR  : — 

"  Having  concluded  to  remove  from  this  diocese  to  that  of 
Virginia,  and  accept  a  situation  offered  me  in  their  Seminary,  it 
seems  proper  that  I  should  apprise  you  of  my  intention. 


WILLIAM     SPARRO  W,    D.  D.  99 

"  Years  ago,  when  I  was  much  younger  in  age,  and  much  younger 
still  in  health  and  strength,  you,  very  unexpectedly,  nominated  me 
to  the  Mil  nor  Professorship.  That  so  much  confidence  should  be 
reposed  in  one  so  young,  and  so  little  known,  was  a  wonder  to  me ; 
and  I  can  truly  say,  helped,  with  higher  considerations,  to  make  me 
solicitous  to  discharge  my  duty  faithfully.  The  value  of  truth, 
pure  truth,  '  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the 
truth/  in  matters  of  religion,  even  more  than  in  the  affairs  of  the 
judgment  hall,  I  have  always  felt  to  be  important;  and  the  inci- 
dent referred  to  was  a  stimulus  additional  to  every  other,  to  '  give 
heed  to  my  doctrine.'  How  far  I  have  succeeded  is  certainly 
known  to  none  but  the  infallible  Judge  in  Heaven.  This,  however, 
I  think  I  may  say  to  you,  that  during  eleven  years  in  this  station 
I  have  never  seen  occasion  to  depart,  in  the  least,  from  the  spirit 
of  those  instructions  which,  when  a  lonely  student  in  New  York,  I 
used  to  seek  in  the  lecture-room  of  St.  George's,  on  week-day 
evenings.  May  they  as  certainly  carry  me,  through  infinite  grace 
and  mercy,  to  the  inheritance  which  I  seek  above,  as  I  have 
endeavored  to  inculcate  them  on  the  minds  committed  to  my  care. 

"  I  regret  exceedingly,  that  when  I  was  last  in  New  York  I  was 
not  able  to  enjoy  more  of  your  society,  and  have  some  free  conver- 
sation with  you  about  the  state  of  religion  in  our  Church.  Your 
long  and  careful  study  of  events  as  they  have  arisen  among  us, 
would  naturally  give  weight  to  your  judgment  upon  such  matters, 
and  not  least  with  me.  How  you  interpret  some  of  the  signs  of  the 
times  I  cannot  conjecture.  In  reference  to  some  things,  there  is  more 
obscurity,  vacillancy,  and  ambiguity,  about  the  doings  of  some 
portions  of  our  Church,  than  I  like  to  see.  I  think  the  declaration 

of  the ,  whose  ability  and  honesty  I  respect,  that  the  only 

difference  between  the  High  and  Low  Church  portion  of  our 
Communion  is  one  of  feeling — a  question  simply  of  more  or  less 
zeal— one  of  the  severest  satires  ever  inflicted  on  a  respected 
and  intelligent  body  of  ecclesiastics.  "Were  I  near' you,  I  should 
like  to  canvass  with  you  in  person,  the  truth  of  this  assertion. 
But  you  will  excuse  all  this  irrelevancy.  My  only  object  in 
writing,  was  to  announce  to  you,  as  the  person  who  nominated  me, 
and  will  have  the  nomination  of  my  successor  to  the  Milnor 
professorship,  that  I  expect  to  retire  from  my  present  position 
about  the  end  of  next  spring  vacation ;  that  is,  about  the  first  of 


100  MEMOIR    OF 

May.  Present  my  respects  to  Mrs.  Milnor,  and  believe  me  to  be, 
reverend  and  dear  sir,  most  truly 

"  Your  obliged  friend  and  servant,        WILLIAM  SPARROW. 
"  The  Rev.  James  Milnor,  D.  D.,  New  York." 

-- 

Within  the  next  four  months  the  movement  was  accomplished, 

and  Dr.  Sparrow  and  his  family  reached  Alexandria  in  April, 
1841,  just  in  time  to  enable  him  to  be  present  at  the  diocesan 
Convention  held  in  that  place,  and  to  meet  there  with  his  subse- 
quent colleague,  Dr.  May,  with  whom,  for  eighteen  years  and  more, 
he  was  afterwards  affectionately  associated,  Dr.  May  being  a  visitor 
to  the  Convention. 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  101 


CHAPTER    V. 

FIRST    SEVEN    YEARS    IN   VIRGINIA. 

Dr.  Sparrow's  resignation  at  Gambier  took  effect  with  the  close  of 
the  half  session,  in  the  spring  of  1841.  He  removed  to  Virginia 
very  soon  afterward,  arriving  there,  as  we  have  seen,  in  the  month 
of  April  of  the  same  year.  The  Faculty  of  the  Virginia  Seminary 
then  consisted  of  Rev.  Dr.  Keith,  and  Professors  Lippitt  and  Pack- 
ard. During  the  remainder  of  this  session,  that  of  '40  and  '41,  Dr. 
Sparrow  gave  instruction  to  the  classes  in  Church  History.  At 
the  same  time,  he  had  classes  in  Mental  and  Moral  Science,  and 
Political  Economy,  in  the  neighboring  Institution,  the  Episcopal 
High  School.  The  death  of  Mrs.  Keith  had  taken  place  not  long 
before  Dr.  Sparrow's  arrival,  in  December,  1840;  and  before  the 
close  of  the  next  session  Dr.  Keith's  health  became  so  seriously 
impaired,  that  he  was  obliged  to  give  up  his  work,  so  as  to  seek,  by 
change  and  travel,  a  restoration,  and  Dr.  Sparrow  took  his  position, 
the  Professorship  of  Systematic  Divinity  and  Christian  Evidences. 
This  position  he  occupied  to  the  close  of  his  life;  most  of  that  time, 
also,  as  Chairman,  or  Dean,  of  the  Faculty,  and  the  Head  of  the 
Institution.  The  classes  at  the  High-school  were  given  up  before, 
or,  at  the  furthest,  by  the  end  of  the  second  session,  and  his  whole 
time  devoted  to  his  theological  classes.  We  thus  enter  upon  the 
work  of  the  last  thirty-three  years  of  his  life.  That  third  of  a  cen- 
tury, in  its  even  tenor  of  ordinary  duty,  presents  very  little  of 
striking  incident  for  biographical  narration.  While  full  of  interest 
to  the  successive  generations  of  students  brought  in  contact  with 
him,  and  coming  under  his  quickening  influence,  it  is  difficult  to 
specialize  that  interest  in  tangible  form,  and  present  it  to  the  minds 
of  others.  The  whole  period,  indeed,  in  certain  respects,  is  so  much 
alike  in  its  parts,  that  there  seems  to  be  a  difficulty  in  breaking  it 
up  into  shorter  intervale.  There  are,  however,  certain  points  of 
time  which  may  be  made  use  of  for  this  purpose ;  and  for  the  sake 
of  clearness,  four  are  here  indicated.  The  first,  from  his  entrance 
upon  his  duties  at  the  Virginia  Seminary,  to  the  time  of  his  visit  to 
Europe,  from  1841  to  1848.  The  second,  from  this  latter  date  to 


102  MEMOIR    OF 

the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  and  the  closing  of  the  Seminary,  1848 
to  1861.  The  third,  from  this  closing  of  the  Seminary  to  its  reopen- 
ing, 1861  to  1865 ;  and  the  last,  his  work  from  this  time  until  his 
death,  from  July,  1865,  to  January,  1874.  In  the  present  chapter 
we  are  occupied  with  the  period,  between  1841  and  1848,  his  first 
seven  years'  work  in  Virginia.  This  was  between  the  fortieth  and 
forty-seventh  year  of  his  age,  the  very  prime  of  his  intellectual 
power,  as  of  his  vigor  in  his  pulpit  ministrations.  At  the  time  of 
his  arrival,  April,  1841,  no  residence  had  been  provided,  and  he, 
therefore,  with  his  family,  for  a  few  months,  remained  in  Alexan- 
dria, and  subsequently,  during  vacation,  occupied  a  portion  of  the 
Seminary.  The  journey,  as  was  necessary  in  those  days,  had  been 
in  stages,  over  the  Alleghany,  from  Wheeling  to  Cumberland,  and 
for  the  rest  of  the  way  by  rail,  to  Washington.  Coming  up  King 
street,  Alexandria,  for  the  first  time,  Dr.  Sparrow  met  his  future 
colleague,  Dr.  Keith,  whose  place  he  would  be  so  soon  called  to 
supply,  and  received  his  welcome.  Dr.  Keith,  it  seems,  at  the  mo- 
ment was  depressed  and  abstracted ;  and  the  effect  of  this  upon  the 
new  comer,  as  described  by  him  years  after,  was  to  depress  him  also. 
In  a  very  little  time,  however,  he  was  made  to  feel  that  he  was  at 
home,  in  the  cordial  welcome  of  his  Virginia  friends ;  and  in  a  letter 
to  his  old  friend  and  colleague,  as  also  to  one  of  his  former  pupils 
at  Gambier,  we  have  his  first  impressions. 

"ALEXANDRIA,  April  19th,  1841. 
"REV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER: — 

"You  were  the  man,  of  all  those  in  Gambier,  whom  it  was  most 
painful  for  me  to  part  with,  and  to  you,  therefore,  I  write  my  first 
letter.  It  is  the  request  of  Mrs.  Sparrow,  also,  that  I  should  lose 
no  time  in  communicating  with  you. 

"  We  arrived  here  on  Saturday  last,  sick  and  sore  beyond  de- 
scription ;  and  we  have  by  no  means  yet  recovered.  Mrs.  Sparrow 
has  a  violent  cold,  and  all  the  children  are  still  sick.  As  to  myself, 
I  am  no  better.  Per  contra,  however,  we  have  been  received  with 
inexpressible  cordiality.  We  stopped  at  the  house  of  Mr.  L.,  and 
remained  there  till  Wednesday,  when  we  moved  into  lodgings.  A 
kinder  couple  we  have  never  met  than  our  entertainers.  They 
both  have  all  the  cordiality  and  hospitality  of  Virginia,  purified 
and  regulated  by  Christian  principle.  We  have  already  been  over- 
whelmed with  more  visits  than  we  shall  be  able  to  return  in  a  long 


WILLIAM    SPAR  BOW,   D.  D.  103 

time.  I  am  pleased  with  the  society,  so  far  as  I  have  met  it.  Last 
night  Mr.  L.  gave  a  party,  out  of  compliment  to  us.  I  went ;  Mrs. 
Sparrow  was  unable.  I  do  not  know  when  I  saw  so  large  a  party 
so  perfectly  free.  From  beginning  to  end,  it  was  one  perpetual 
clatter  of  conversation,  in  which  form  was  as  much  cast  aside,  and 
there  was  as  much  real  enjoyment,  as  one  would  see  among  so  many 
children.  The  gentlemen  seemed  very  intelligent,  and  the  ladies 
were,  of  course. 

"  I  have  been  twice  out  to  the  Seminary,  and  there,  also,  have 
been  received  with  open  arms.  Their  kindness,  I  confess,  is  a 
trouble  to  me,  as  it  indicates  that  they  expect  much  of  me.  I  have 
done  nothing,  as  yet,  in  the  way  of  teaching,  and,  I  presume,  will 
not  do  much  this  term.  Three  times  a  week  are  all  I  shall  be 
under  the  necessity  of  going  out  to  the  Seminary ;  and  a  lesson 
each  of  these  days  in  the  Seminary  and  High-school  will  be  all 
my  duty. 

"  Bishop  Meade  called  to  see  me  yesterday  morning,  having 
arrived  the  night  before.  He  went  on  immediately  to  attend  to 
the  publication  of  his  consecration  sermon,*  which,  after  the 
fashion  of  the  times,  is  to  have  notes  appended,  on  Tradition,  and 
other  points  connected  with  Oxford  Tractism. 

"  I  have  been  visited  by  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Dana  and  Johnston 
(the  resident  rectors  of  the  churches  in  Alexandria),  and  am  to 
preach  for  them  both  on  Sunday,  The  latter  is  very  polished, 
and  the  former  very  affectionate,  especially  for  an  old  bachelor. 
Dr.  Keith  I  heard  preach  last  Sunday,  in  Mr.  Dana's  church,  with 
great  effect.  He  is  a  very  holy  man,  and  very  solemn  in  the 
pulpit.  I  suspect  he  brings  the  strong  meat  of  Calvinism,  in  huge 
joints  and  sirloins,  on  the  table.  It  is  not  with  him,  as  at  Gambier, 
employed  as  sugar,  to  sweeten  the  tea. 

"  I  have  allowed  my  thoughts  to  wander  back  to  Gambier  as  little 
as  possible.  Ever  since  I  left  there  I  have  found  it  my  wisdom  to 
keep  them  directed  forward  as  exclusively  as  possible,  though  my 
prospects  of  happiness  are  very  good,  indeed,  if  Heaven  should 
bless  me  in  my  family,  and  enable  me  to  do  my  duty  as  Professor 
adequately ;  yet  one  thing  is  manifest — I  cannot  spend  here,  as  I 
have  there,  the  prime  of  my  life,  or  form  the  same  strong  attach- 
ments. I  thank  God  that  I  was  able  to  leave  Gambier  with  such 
kind  feelings  towards  all  there,  and  possessing  such  a  large  and 

*  At  the  consecration  of  Bishop  Elliott,  of  Georgia. 


104  MEMOIR    OF 

undeserved  portion  of  their  good  will.  Especially  am  I  thankful 
that  the  Bishop  felt  so  kindly  towards  me.  "When  I  went  to  bid 
him  farewell,  his  affection  was  evinced  in  the  most  unequivocal 
manner,  and  I  can  truly  say  that  every  such  feeling  was  more  than 
reciprocated.  Do  not  fail,  on  the  receipt  of  this,  to  present  to  him 
my  most  respectful  and  affectionate  regards.  I  shall  write  him 
before  long.  I  wish  you,  also,  to  say  to  Major  Douglass  that  I 
regret  I  did  not  see  him  at  the  time  of  parting.  I  went  to  see  him 
and  the  Bishop ;  but,  in  truth,  the  Bishop  so  occupied  my  thoughts 
that  I  forgot  to  inquire  for  the  Major. 

"  Remember  me  most  kindly  to  all  my  friends ;  the  officers  of 
the  Institution,  including  my  old  friends,  Blake  and  Badger,  the 
students  who  were  especially  intimate  with  me,  and  those  outside 
of  the  Institution.  To  many  of  them  I  shall  write,  though  I  cannot 
say  how  soon.  It  will  be  a  considerable  time  before  I  have  settled 
down  into  that  quiet  frame  of  mind  which  is  most  favorable  to 
writing  letters  of  friendship.  To  you  I  shall  write,  in  season  and 
out  of  season ;  and  shall  hope  that  you  will  prove  as  good  a  corres- 
pondent as  in  days  of  yore.  I  have  just  had  a  letter  from  H.  He 
saw  his  mother,  and  so  satisfied,  as  she  said,  her  last  earthly  wish. 
She  died  the  Monday  after  his  arrival  at  home.  Amongst  the 
persons  I  shall  write  to  is  Mr.  S.  Tell  him,  however,  that  I  shall 
be  glad  to  hear  from  him  in  the  meantime.  In  his  bachelor  lone- 
liness he  may,  perhaps,  feel  disposed  to  write  me  first. 

"  My  best  regards  and  good  wishes  to  Mrs.  Wing.     We   are 
anxious  to  hear  about  her  health.    On  this  head,  therefore,  you 
will  be  particular  when  you  write.     I  need  not  say  Mrs.  Sparrow 
joins  with  me  in  best  regards  and  heartiest  good  wishes. 
"  Your  old  friend  and  brother, 

"W.  SPARROW. 

"  P.  S.  In  excuse  for  this  scrawl,  I  plead  my  confined  condition, 
a  bad  cold,  and  part  of  the  time  Thomas  on  my  lap,  a  la  mode 
Hooker.  W.  S." 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  FAIRFAX  COUNTY,  VA. 
"  MY  DEAR  MR.  SYLE  : — 

"  I  have  written  Mr.  M.  and  Mr.  W.,  and  the  bishop  being  now 
absent  from  Gambier,  I  feel  as  if  I  ought  to  write  to  you  next.  It 
is  fairly  a  duty,  and  my  duty  here  is  my  pleasure.  My  family  also 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  105 

urge  it.  They  all  agree  with  me  that  your  claim  is  one  of  the  first. 
They  often  speak  of  you,  and,  I  doubt  not,  think  oftener  than  they 
speak. 

"  Through  great  mercy  we  got  here  (I  mean  Alexandria,  though 
I  date  my  letter  from  the  Seminary,  and  wish  all  letters  for  us 
directed  thither),  without  any  serious  accident,  but  perfectly  worn 
out.  We  have  not  yet  recovered,  by  any  means.  Cold  and  bruises 
still  continue.  I  am  very  thankful,  however,  that  my  little  Eliza- 
beth has  begun  to  walk  again,  and  I  trust  will  soon  be  restored  to 
health. 

"  We  are  boarding,  but  shall  get  out  of  it  as  soon  as  possible. 
It  is  not  the  thing  for  children.  After  so  much  latitude  and  range 
as  my  little  ones  have  enjoyed,  their  life  will  soon  appear  to  them 
as  that  of  prisoners ;  as  yet  they  are  pleased  with  the  novelty  of  the 
sights  which  the  city  and  river  present. 

"We  have  found  the  people  here  exceedingly  attentive,  and  I 
think  we  shall  like  them  much.  Amongst  the  better  class  of 
people  there  seems  a  good  share  of  religious  feeling. 

"  In  the  Seminary,  things  are  in  better  condition  than  I  expected 
to  find  them.  I  should  think  the  students  are  contented  and  happy, 
and  doing  well ;  the  spirit  which  prevails  amongst  them  is  good, 
whilst  there  is  no  irregularity  that  I  can  see;  their  main  atten- 
tion is  directed,  not  to  the  external,  but  the  internal.  I  have  done 
one  week's  duty  amongst  them,  and  could  I  feel  myself  qualified 
for  the  office  which  I  fill,  I  should  be  satisfied  with  the  result. 
If  they  will  have  patience  with  me,  however,  and  not  seize  me  by 
the  throat  prematurely,  in  due  time  I  hope  I  shall  be  able  to  teach 
the  dry  details  of  Mosheim's  chaff,  and  mingle  a  little  of  Milner's 
farina,  putting  the  whole  through  the  bolting  cloth  of  Christian 
philosophy  (am  I  not  quite  imaginary  in  my  comparison  ?).  The 
study  of  abstract  subjects  so  long,  has  unfitted  me  for  the  concrete, 
but  if  I  can  recover  an  ordinary  ability  to  handle  the  latter  class  of 
ideas,  to  remember  and  recall  with  facility,  incidents,  persons  and 
dates,  the  possession  of  the  former  will  prove  in  the  end  helpful  to 
me,  and  especially,  serve  me  when  I  attempt  written  lectures. 

"  I  have  walked  out  to  the  Seminary  four  days  this  week,  and 
back  again.  The  distance  is  about  two  miles  and  a  half,  by  the  foot 
path.  It  agrees  with  me  right  well.  How  I  can  bear  it  in  the  hot 
weather  is  to  be  tried,  but  I  hope  by  that  time  to  be  residing  '  on 
the  hill.'  My  house  is  begun;  they  waited  for  me  to  fix  the  site, 


106  MEMOIR    OF 

which  has  thrown  the  work  back,  though  it  was  very  kind  in  them. 
Before  it  is  done,  I  hope  to  move  to  another  house,  near  the  Semi- 
nary, for  two  or  three  months.  The  walk  out  is  all  up  hill,  but  it 
is  rendered  less  laborious  by  the  beautiful  prospect  all  the  way. 

"The  season  here  is  very  backward — six  weeks  or  more  behind 
time.  It  has  rained  much  since  we  arrived,  and  the  children  have 
been  the  more  like  caged  birds. 

"  Thus  far  I  see  no  cause  to  regret  the  move  I  have  made,  if  I 
could  only  abate  my  strong  personal  and  local  attachments.  I  love 
Ohio  much,  and  Gambier  more;  and  I  thank  God  I  can  look  back 
and  think  of  all  my  acquaintances  there  with  unmingled  feelings  of 
affection.  I  never  have  been  retentive  of  unkind  feelings.  The 
least  exhibition  of  regard  on  the  part  of  others  has  always  drowned 
them,  and  I  am  sure  there  was  quite  enough  of  such  feeling  mani- 
fested at  my  departure.  The  bishop  parted  with  me  in  the  most 
affectionate  and  brotherly  manner. 

"  Your  friend  and  brother  in  Christ,  W.  SPARROW." 

The  two  following  letters,  to  the  same  correspondent,  the  one  on 
his  departure  for  England,  and  the  other  soon  after  hearing  of  his 
arrival,  have  their  place  at  this  point.  The  latter  of  the  two 
touches  upon  certain  questions  of  controversy  at  that  time  under 
discussion. 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  NEAR  ALEXANDRIA,  VA., 

"September  17th,  1842. 
"MY  DEAR  MR.  SYLE: — 

"  I  have  been  prevented  from  answering  you  sooner,  partly  by 
absence  from  home,  and  partly  by  a  painful  reluctance  which  I 
have  felt  and  now  feel  to  sit  down  to  write  you  a  final  letter  before 
your  departure.  It  is  truly  painful  to  me  to  bid  you  farewell, 
never  expecting  to  see  you  again  this  side  of  eternity.  At  the 
same  time,  I  am  free  to  say  that  if  you  think  a  longer  residence  in 
this  country  would  interfere  with  the  main  object  of  your  life,  I 
would  not  throw  the  smallest  obstacle  in  your  way.  God  forbid  I 
should.  Were  you  my  brother,  with  a  heart  set  on  a  foreign 
mission,  I  would  cheerfully  part  with  you,  however  trying  to  flesh 
and  blood.  If,  then,  you  think  duty  calls,  Heaven  speed  you.  My 
prayers  accompany  you,  and  shall  follow  you  to  my  latest  breath. 

"Have  I  told  you  how  I  was  pleased  with  my  visit  to  the  interior 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,    D.  D.  107 

of  Virginia  ?  But  I  cannot  tell  you.  The  hospitality  of  the  people 
surpassed  anything  I  had  ever  seen.  I  was  at  two  associations, 
with  four  other  clergymen,  and  the  attendance  upon  the  meetings 
was  most  excellent.  I  trust  good  was  done.  One  of  the  associa- 
tions was  held  at  a  church  in  the  woods.  There  were  fifty  carriages, 
and  I  can't  tell  how  many  horses  fastened  under  the  trees  all 
around. 

"  After  morning  service,  they  all  went  to  their  carriages,  as  to 
their  homes,  let  down  the  steps,  brought  forth  their  cold  dinners, 
put  one  dish  on  one  step  and  another  on  another,  took  their  food  in 
their  fingers,  sitting  in  the  carriages  or  standing  about  them,  and 
so  'eat  bread/  with  as  much  of  an  accustomed  air  as  if  they  had 
been  seated  at  their  tables.  These  were  the  first  people  in  the 
land.  After  refreshment  they  went  back  to  the  church,  quietly 
took  their  seats,  and  without  any  ringing  of  bells,  were  ready  to 
hear  as  soon  as  the  pastors  were  ready  to  speak.  Virginia  Chris- 
tians are  much  more  in  earnest  than  any  we  have  in  the  West.  The 
line  between  them  and  the  world  is  more  distinctly  drawn.  You 
will  be  surprised  to  find  me  saying,  that  I  have  known  but  one  man 
in  the  West  who  comes  near  my  idea  of  a  thorough  Christian  (I 
speak  of  the  laity),  and  that  is  W.  I  wish  I  could  show  you  two 
letters  he  has  recently  written  me,  spontaneously.  He  tells  me,  by 
the  way,  that  T.  is  married  to  a  lady  of  decided  piety,  in  Colum- 
bus, who  is  likely  to  exert  a  salutary  influence  over  him.  But  let 
me  draw  to  a  close. 

"Am  I,  then,  to  see  you  no  more  in  this  world!  The  Lord's  will 
be  done.  But  let  me  hear  from  you.  You  have  promised  to 
remember  me,  and  I  have  no  doubt  you  will,  but  also  write  to  me. 
A  letter  from  you  will  always  be  deemed  a  privilege  by  me  and 
mine.  As  long  as  I  live  I  shall  take  a  deep  interest  in  you,  and 
not  least  when  you  get  into  your  missionary  field.  When  there, 
remember  that  a  letter  from  you  will  not  only  be  a  refreshment  to 
Mrs.  S.  and  myself,  in  the  weary  pilgrimage  of  life,  but  also  may 
be  made  a  blessing  to  the  young  men  here  preparing  for  the 
ministry.  Above  all,  let  me  have  your  prayers,  as  you  shall  have 
mine.  Lastly,  should  anything  unforeseen  prevent  your  sailing  this 
autumn,  fail  not  to  remember  that  there  are  here  persons  ready  to 
receive  you  with  open  arms,  and  to  make  your  situation  as  com- 
fortable as  their  power  will  permit.  Of  course  I  will  expect  to 
hear  from  you  again.  Mrs.  S.  and  all  the  children  send  their  love. 


MEMOIR    OF 

That  the  presence  and  blessing  of  a  covenant  God  may  be  with 
you,  by  land  and  by  sea,  now  and  forever,  is  the  prayer  of  your 
friend  and  brother,  WILLIAM  SPARROW. 

".Rev.  E.  W.  Syle." 

"  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  NEAR  ALEXANDRIA,  D.  0.,  . 

"December,  1842. 
"My  DEAR  MR.  SYLE: — 

"  Your  letter  caused  us  heartfelt  joy  and  gratitude  to  God,  that 
he  had  brought  you  in  safety  to  your  native  land,  that  '  glory  of 
all  lands,'  and  it  proved  also  an  occasion  of  pleasure,  as  an  evidence 
that  you  had  thoughts  of  us,  even  amid  the  chaos  of  delightful 
associations  which  an  arrival  at  home  after  so  long  and  distant  an 
absence  must  necessarily  occasion. 

"  The  account  you  gave  of  your  voyage  was  quite  interesting  to 
us  all.  Your  story,  under  the  head  of  '  unprovableness,'  went  to 
prove  what  I  have  long  been  persuaded  of,  that  in  reference  to  the 
low,  the  outcast  and  neglected  portions  of  society,  we  are  too  apt  to 
say,  with  the  Pharisees,  '  this  people,  who  knoweth  not  the  law,  are 
cursed.'  Our  Saviour  has  not  been  sufficiently  imitated  in  his 
hopefulness,  in  regard  to  the  most  vile,  and  especially  in  His  direct 
efforts  to  restore  them  to  virtue  and  happiness. 

"  I  should  have  written  upon  the  very  heels  of  your  letter's  recep- 
tion, but  that  we  were  then  expecting,  in  a  few  days,  a  visit  from 

your  friend,  Mr.  H .     He  came,  in  due  time,  and  stopped  with 

his  old  West  Point  friend,  Mr.  P ,  but  was  several  times  at  my 

house.  He  preached  for  us,  at  night,  on  the  subject  of  his  agency. 
I  liked  the  man,  more  for  your  sake,  than  on  any  other  account. 
His  sermon,  though  good  as  a  composition,  and  full  of  statistics, 
seemed  more  stiff  and  straight-laced  than  my  notions  of  the 
Gospel  could  approve.  In  conversation,  I  found  that,  on  many  points 
of  great  moment,  I  could  not  accord  with  him.  One  topic  of  conversa- 
tion was  the  Christian  priesthood  (sacerdotium,  noipresbyteriwri), 
which  is  now  in  everybody's  mouth,  in  consequence  of  a  couple  of 
sermons  of  the  Bishop  of  Maryland,  just  published.  The  Bishop's 
notion  is,  that  we  have  a  priesthood  as  much  under  the  New  as 
under  the  Old  Dispensation,  and  as  really  a  sacrifice  and  altar  (the 
bread  and  wine,  and  the  Lord's  table).  The  fundamental  idea  of 
the  priesthood  he  defines  to  be  ministerial  intervention  for  the 
forgiveness  of  sins.  Now  this  may  be  readily  admitted,  on  the 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,    D.  D.  109 

principle  of  'how  shall  they  believe  in  Him  of  whom  they  have 
not  heard,'  etc.  (understanding  '  such '  as  referring  to  the  tidings 
furnished,  rather  than  the  authority  to  carry  them) ;  but  if  it  is 
carried  so  far  as  to  suppose  that  justification  is  tied  to  the  sacra- 
ments, and  that  they  are  anything  more  than  generally  necessary 
to  salvation,  I  think  Scripture  and  reason  violated  thereby,  and 
the  door  opened  for  some  of  the  worst  errors  of  Popery.  Talking 

with  Mr.  H ,  I  told  him  that  it  was  enough  for  me  that  I  was, 

by  my  ministerial  office,  made  a  preacher  of  the  '  good  tidings  of 
great  joy,'  and  also  a  ruler  in  the  house  of  God.  Snapping  his 
fingers,  he  said,  '  if  that  was  all  that  was  in  the  Christian  ministry, 
he  would  not  give  a  fig  for  it;  desiring  us  to  look  at  the  different 
sects  around.  When  Mr.  P told  him  to  look  at  the  conse- 
quences of  the  opposite  doctrines,  and  see  how  much  more 

pernicious  they  were,  'he  did  not  think  so.'     That  Mr.  H is  a 

good  and  laborious  man,  and  that  in  private  life  he  is  very 
agreeable,  I  doubt  not;  but  I  see  that  though  he  aims  to  be  a 
'  tertium  quid '  man,  he  is  all  on  one  side.  These  remarks  I  would 
not  make  upon  your  friend,  if  I  thought  you  would  misunderstand 
me.  The  occasion  of  speaking,  is  the  excitement  caused  by  the 
publication  of  the  sermons  just  mentioned,  and  the  motive  is  to  let 
you  know  where  I  stand  in  relation  to  such  points.  The  time  has 
come  when  every  man  in  public  must  take  his  stand  somewhere ; 
and  I,  after  many  an  hour's,  many  a  year's  anxious  thought,  have 
taken  mine;  it  is  natural  that  we  speak  freely  to  particular  friends 
about  what  most  interests  us. 

"  I  believe  there  is  nothing  new  in  Alexandria  to  communicate. 
Neither  is  there  much  here.  You  learned,  I  believe,  before  you 
left,  that  we  had  a  junior  class  of  twenty.  Dr.  May  is  here,  and 
exceedingly  acceptable.  I  think  you  would  like  him  very  miich,  if 
you  were  acquainted  with  him.  He  is  a  sweet  man,  of  good  sense, 
of  Evangelical  principles,  and  moderate  in  his  church  views.  He 
is  very  successful  on  Thursday  nights,  and  is  much  liked  as  a 
preacher.  He  is  a  little  more  Calvinistic  than  you  or  I  would  like, 
perhaps,  but  it  is  not  brought  out  offensively.  Mr.  Lippitt  will  be 
glad  to  hear  from  you.  Your  other  friends  in  Alexandria  speak  of 
you  in  the  kindest  terms.  I  believe  all  there,  as  well  as  here,  were 

sad  at  parting  with  you,  except ,  and  he  only  because  of 

your  most  unchristian  enthusiasm ! !  You  know  Dr.  Eastburn  is 
going  to  be  consecrated  Bishop  of  Massachusetts,  assistant  to 


110  MEMOIR    OF 

Bishop  Griswold.  This  is  an  acquisition  to  our  Church.  He  is  a 
man  of  right  views,  and  one-half  a  countryman  of  yours. 

"  I  ought  to  have  mentioned  that  one  of  Bishop  Whittingham's 
sermons  was  preached  at  the  institution  of  H.  V.  D.  Johns,  as 
Bishop  Johns'  successor.  As  it  contradicted  some  views  which 
Bishop  Johns  had  exhibited  in  ,his  farewell  discourse,  and  as  it 
professed  to  teach  the  people  in  what  light  they  should  regard 
their  new  pastor,  Henry  Johns  thought  that  this  placed  him  in  a 
false  attitude  and  character  before  his  charge,  and  he  thus  felt 
constrained  to  define  his  own  position  at  night.  The  discourse  was, 
consequently,  extemporaneous,  for  the  most  part,  but  he  afterward 
wrote  it  down,  and  published  it.  To  a  person  who  merely  knew 
that  he  preached,  at  night,  against  what  the  bishop  had  preached 
in  the  morning,  it  might  seem  as  if  he  had  been  rash.  But  when 
we  consider  that  the  bishop  had  expressly  contradicted  Bishop  Johns' 
exposition  of  his  preaching  in  that  Church  for  years,  that  this  con- 
tradiction was  made  as  the  connection  was  forming  between  the 
new  rector  and  the  parish,  and  that  Henry  Johns  is  of  a  mild,  not  a 
harsh,  a  cautious,  not  a  hasty  temper,  it  will  appear,  I  think,  that 
he  was  actuated  by  a  constraining  sense  of  duty.  His  sermon  I 
have  read,  and  like  it  much,  making  allowance  for  its  extempora- 
neous character. 

"In  regard  to  the  subject*  on  which  you  ask  for  'hints,'  I  can 
say  nothing.  You  may  judge,  from  the  previous  scribbling,  that  I 
am  not  in  a  condition  to  touch  a  theological  question.  Indeed,  I 
am  only  fit  to  do  just  what  I  am  doing — pouring  out  thoughts,  as 
they  arise,  to  a  friend  who  will  not  ask  what  their  value,  but  whence 
they  come.  Order  and  system  are  important,  there  can  be  no 
doubt;  and  the  benefits  of  concentrated  action,  by  the  way,  have 
been  exhibited,  not  only  by  Episcopalians,  but  by  the  Methodists, 
Presbyterians,  and  Baptists ;  witness  their  missionary  feats.  The 
only  question  is,  whether  we  shall  leave  this  concert  and  co-opera- 
tion to  be  sustained  by  'the  elective  affinities,'  and  voluntary 
energies  of  vital  Christianity,  or  force  them  into  existence,  and 
maintain  them  by  principles  which  trench  on  individual  rights,  and, 
in  their  final  result,  on  the  spirit  and  power  of  religion.  Order, 
consolidation,  and  strength,  are  easily  secured,  for  they  have  been 
secured  under  all  systems,  political  and  religious.  Christianity 

*  This  subject  appears  to  have  been  that  of  the  organization  of  the  Foreign  and 
Domestic  Missionary  Boards,  under  the  General  Convention. 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  Ill 

consents  to  seek  them  only  in  one  way — that  which  leaves 
individual  responsibility  untouched,  and  spiritual  religion  para- 
mount. Luther,  you  remember,  was  not  hasty  to  remove  the 
symbols  of  superstition ;  he  would  first  remove  the  spirit  of  it  from 
the  minds  of  the  people.  So,  in  reverse  order,  the  spirit  of  unity, 
in  the  love  of  Evangelical  truths,  it  seems  to  me,  ought  to  precede 
the  outward  form  of  it.  To  press  the  latter  unduly,  is  not  only  to 
prevent  the  introduction  of  the  former,  but  positively  to  depredate 
it.  Much  is  said  in  the  New  Testament  about  the  one;  very  little 
about  the  other.  The  greatest  feats  of  Christian  enterprise  were 
done,  when,  in  the  nature  of  things,  much  external  unity  was 
impossible,  in  Apostolic  times.  Authority  and  order  may  be 
carried  to  the  degree  of  destroying  that  individuality  which  is 
specially  fostered  by  Christianity. 

"  Mrs.  Sparrow  and  the  children  unite  with  me  in  sincerest  love. 
A  standing  petition  at  our  daily  devotions,  is  'for  friends,  far  and 
near;'  you  are  very  often  distinctly  included.  I  am  kept  very 
busy.  I  have  not  yet  got  release  from  my  entire  duties,  and  go 
every  Sunday  to  Georgetown,  to  preach  for  Mr.  Hoff.  This  will 
probably  continue  a  month  or  two  longer.  I  am  hardly  able  to 
bear  the  labor  and  exposure,  but  circumstances  make  it  expedient. 
Do  write  me  soon.  I  prescribe  two  topics — first,  of  yourself, 
secondly,  of  the  state  and  prospects  of  true  religion. 

"Your  brother  in  Christ,  WILLIAM  SPARROW. 

"P.  S.     I  have  not  strength  to  read  this  over." 

In  the  course  of  the  next  six  or  eight  months  a  residence  was 
erected  for  him  on  the  Seminary  grounds.  Into  this  he  was  able 
to  move  at  the  beginning  of  the  session  1841-42,  and  he  continued 
to  occupy  it  until  after  the  resignation  of  Dr.  Keith.  This  last 
event  left  a  dwelling  unoccupied,  more  commodious  and  nearer  to 
the  Seminary ;  and  into  this  Dr.  Sparrow  moved,  and,  with  his 
family,  found  their  home,  until  the  day  of  his  death.  His  family 
at  this  time  was  quite  large,  two  sons  and  five  daughters.  And  we 
find,  during  the  period  with  which  we  are  now  engaged,  that  the 
solicitudes  of  a  parent,  realizing  that  he  might  be  taken  from  them 
at  any  moment,  entered  largely  into  his  experiences  and  feelings. 
No  man,  perhaps,  ever  more  thoroughly  appreciated  or  gratefully  en- 
joyed the  blessings  of  domestic  and  social  life.  The  dependence,  both 
of  the  individual  and  of  the  community,  for  moral  health  and  safety 


112  MEMOIR    OF 

upon  the  family,  was  a  truth  of  which  he  was  never  forgetful,  and, 
as  his  ideal  of  the  family  was  that  of  the  well  regulated  Christian 
household — the  best  type  on  earth  of  heaven,  the  elevating  and 
purifying  power  to  individuals,  the  conserving  and  restraining  in- 
fluence upon  communities — so  his  effort  was  to  secure  these  highest 
benefits  to  his  own  family,  the  objects  of  his  warmest  affection. 
Extracts,  already  given,  from  his  diary,  of  an  earlier  date,  when 
about  to  leave  home,  contain  indications  of  his  feelings  in  this 
respect — his  thorough  appreciation  of  his  home  blessings,  his  deep 
affection  and  interest  for  the  dependent  members  of  that  home,  his 
parental  solicitude  and  anxiety  for  their  comfort  and  welfare. 

As  already  remarked,  Dr.  Sparrow's  work,  as  Professor  at  the 
Seminary,  began  with  the  classes  in  Church  History.  Distinct 
from  this,  for  two  sessions,  were  his  classes  at  the  High-school,  in 
Mental  Philosophy.  In  these  latter  recitations  the  writer  first 
made  his  acquaintance.  Very  distinct  are  the  recollections  of  the 
first  one  of  those  recitations,  of  the  anxiety  preceding  it,  of  its 
almost  immediate  removal  as  the  kindly,  genial  questioning  and 
explanation  went  on,  of  the  pleasurable  conviction  following,  "  he 
knows  all  about  it,  and  yet  he  is  not  out  of  sympathy  with  those 
who  are  still  ignorant,  but  who  are  trying  to  know."  For  weeks, 
and  even  months  before,  Dr.  Sparrow's  arrival  had  been  antici- 
pated. His  great  reputation  as  a  Teacher  and  Preacher,  his 
former  position  as  President  of  Kenyon  College  and  head  of  the 
Theological  Seminary,  had  produced  the  impression  that  there 
would  be  great  difficulty  in  meeting  his  requisitions.  With  the 
studious  the  first  trial  was  sufficient  to  dissipate  all  such  unpleasant 
impressions.  The  assurance  was  almost  immediate,  that  the  In- 
structor was  not  only  capable  himself,  but  appreciative  of  a  pupil's 
difficulties ;  that  while  rigidly  exacting  in  his  demands  as  to  what 
was  attainable,  he  was  ever  ready  with  such  assistance  as  was  really 
needed.  Four  of  the  class  on  that  occasion,  Bishop  Whittle,  Dr. 
Perkins,  of  Louisville,  Eev.  Wm.  M.  Nelson,  of  Kentucky,  and  the 
writer,  are  now  among  our  clergy* — most,  if  not  all,  of  them,  com- 
ing subsequently  under  his  instructions  at  the  Seminary. 

The  course  of  this  instruction  at  the  Seminary  has  already 
been  briefly  indicated.  The  change  from  Dr.  Sparrow's  work 

*  Rev.  John  A.  Harrison,  Rev.  A.  F.  Freeman  and  Rev.  E.  B.  Jones  were  probably 
members  of  the  same  class.  But  there  is  not  distinct  remembrance  to  justify  a  positive 
statement  to  that  effect. 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,   D.  D.  113 

as  Professor  of  Ecclesiastical  History  began  during  Dr.  Keith's 
sickness,  and  was  fully  made  when  it  became  manifest  that  the 
latter  would  be  unable  to  resume  his  duties.  Dr.  Sparrow  was 
then  appointed  to  the  Professorship  of  Systematic  Divinity  and  Evi- 
dences. About  the  same  time,  or  a  little  later,  Professor  Lippitt 
resigned  the  Professorship  of  Church  History,  taking  charge  of  the 
diocesan  paper,  the  "  Southern  Churchman,"  and  Dr.  May  was  ap- 
pointed to  supply  his  place.  The  Faculty  thus  constituted  con- 
tinued together  until  the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  in  1861,  Dr. 
Sparrow,  for  the  larger  portion  of  the  time,  occupying  the  position 
of  Dean.  Among  his  papers  is  one  which  seems  to  have  been  pre- 
pared at  this  time,  having  in  view  the  more  effective  working  of  the 
Institution,  and,  as  most  of  the  particulars  there  mentioned  have 
been  adopted,  the  paper  itself  will  not  be  without  interest.  It  is 
entitled,  "  Suggestions  in  relation  to  the  Theological  Seminary  of 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  Diocese  of  Virginia." 

1.  The  literary  qualifications  for  entering  the  Seminary  ought, 
perhaps,  to  be  made  more  definite.     The  catalogue  speaks  only  of 
"literary  and  scientific  attainments."     With  the   High-school  at 
hand,  to  furnish  education  in  all  the  preparatory  studies,  something 
more  specific  might  be  required.     Candidates,  on  their  entrance, 
should  be  examined. 

2.  The  Senior  Class,  like  any  other,  ought  to  be  examined  at  the 
end  of  the  year.     The  final  examination,  before  the  Bishop,  by  no 
means  renders  the  Seminary  examination  superfluous. 

3.  Those  who  take  a  regular  three  years'  course  ought  to  have  a 
certificate  or  diploma,  as  evidence  of  the  same,  from  the  Trustees  or 
Faculty — none  others  to  receive  it. 

4.  No  one  ought  to  be  advanced  to  a  higher  class  without  a 
regular  examination  on  the  studies  of  the  lower.    Their  proficiency 
should  not  be  presumed. 

5.  Whatever  a  class  studies,  in  conformity  with  the  course  laid 
down  in  the  catalogue,  ought  to  be  a  matter  of  public  examination 
at  the  end  of  the  year ;  otherwise  there  will  be  remissness  on  the 
part  of  the  students  or  teachers,  or  both. 

6.  The  Faculty  should  keep  a  full  and  faithful  record  of  all  their 
official  proceedings.    Its  influence  is  salutary,  alike  on  the  governors 
and  the  governed. 

7.  As  there  is  a  strong  inclination  amongst  students  to  leave  the 
Seminary  at  the  end  of  the  second  year,  could  not  something  be 

8 


114  MEMOIR    OF 

done  to  counteract  it — if  not  by  the  Trustees,  yet  by  the  Edu- 
cation Society  ? 

8.  So  much  attention  is  necessarily  bestowed  on  the  Greek  and 
Hebrew  Scriptures,  that  the  English  Bible  is  liable  to  be  neglected ; 
to  obviate  this  evil,  and  secure  such  familiarity  with  its  language 
as  will  make  quotation  easy,  ought  not  the  Trustees  require  that 
portions  of  it  be  weekly  committed  to  memory  ? 

Most  of  these  suggestions  seem  to  have  been  adopted.  The  last 
one  of  them,  that  of  committing  portions  of  the  English  version, 
was  acted  upon  by  himself,  with  some  of  his  classes,  for  several 
years,  though  it  is  believed  that  he  eventually  discontinued  it.  The 
portions  selected  were  usually  the  Apostolical  Epistles.  There  was 
some  little  fear,  for  a  while,  with  some  of  the  old  friends  and 
Alumni,  that  the  Seminary  might  become  too  predominantly  col- 
legiate in  its  character — a  place  for  the  enlightening  of  the  head  at 
the  expense  of  the  warmth  of  the  heart.  These  dangers  it  was 
found,  however,  were  imaginary.  The  very  effort  to  encourage 
study,  to  make  it  more  extensive,  and  thorough,  and  systematic; 
was  so  conducted  as  at  the  same  time  to  encourage  and  to  aid  a 
more  thorough  cultivation  of  the  religious  affections. 

With  reference  to  the  latter  of  these  objects,  the  proper  cultiva- 
tion of  the  heart,  the  moral  and  spiritual  preparation  for  efficient 
work,  for  spiritual  influence  and  results  in  the  ministry,  Dr. 
Sparrow  recognized  not  only  its  transcending  importance,  but  the 
accountability  of  himself  and  his  colleagues  to  encourage  and  fur- 
ther it  in  every  manner  possible.  One  form  of  instrumentality  to 
the  attainment  of  this  desired  result  he  found  in  operation,  the 
Faculty  meeting,  the  weekly  prayer  meeting,  on  Thursday  evening, 
of  the  professors  and  students.  Into  the  spirit  and  purpose  of 
this  he  immediately  entered,  and  largely  used  it  during  his  whole 
subsequent  career.  It  may,  indeed,  be  said  that  this  constituted 
his  favorite  and  most  effective  mode  of  impressing  himself  upon 
the  minds  and  hearts  of  his  pupils;  of  impressing  upon  them  the 
spirituality  of  their  work,  the  need  of  personal  spirituality  to 
give  them  efficiency  and  success  in  its  performance.  While  in 
his  personal  intercourse,  as  in  his  sermons  delivered  on  Sundays  in 
the  chapel,  this  matter  occupied  its  full  place,  and,  indeed,  was 
never  entirely  out  of  sight,  yet  it  was  in  these  informal  weekly 
meetings  that  it  received  its  most  specific  consideration.  These 
meetings,  beginning  under  the  administration  of  Dr.  Keith,  and 


WILLIAM     S  P  A  R  R  0  W,    D.   D.  115 

tested  as  to  their  beneficial  influence  by  him  and  his  colleagues,  at 
once  commended  themselves  to  the  regard  of  his  successor.  He 
was  in  the  habit  of  making  thorough  preparation  for  them,  as  was, 
indeed,  necessary,  at  first,  through  his  want  of  experience  in 
extemporaneous  speaking,  such  experience,  prior  to  his  residence 
in  Virginia,  being  largely  confined  to  the  recitation  room.  This 
specific  preparation  continued,  however,  even  after  the  sort  of 
necessity  just  alluded  to  had  ceased  to  exist,  when  it  had  become 
as  natural  to  him  to  clothe  his  thoughts  in  words  in  the  Faculty 
meeting,  as  at  recitation.  He  expected  and  prayed  for  fruit, 
results  of  spiritual  benefit,  from  these  occasions,  and  he  conscien- 
tiously used  the  means,  and  made  the  effort  to  obtain  them.  Some 
of  the  subjects  we  subjoin  in  the  Appendix,  with  a  sketch  of  their 
treatment.  His  colleague,  Dr.  May,  who  became  a  member  of  the 
Faculty  within  the  first  eighteen  months  after  his  arrival,  Septem- 
ber, 1842,  like  himself,  took  the  deepest  interest  in  these 
occasions,  and  was  peculiarly  happy  in  his  presentation  of  topics 
of  an  edifying  character.  But  there  was  a  great  difference,  at  that 
time,  between  the  two,  in  one  respect — the  comfort  with  which  the 
duty  was  performed.  With  Dr.  May  it  seemed  to  involve  as  little 
of  effort  to  extemporize  as  it  did  to  converse ;  and  whatever  his 
preparation,  in  specific  cases,  he  could,  upon  very  brief  notice,  and 
without  appearance  of  anxiety,  be  exceedingly  profitable.  It  had, 
indeed,  been  with  great  effort,  as  his  pupils  afterwards  ascertained 
from  him,  that  he  had  attained  this  freedom ;  in  such  freedom  having 
greatly  the  advantage  of  Dr.  Sparrow.  To  the  latter,  while  the 
Faculty  meeting  was  a  recognized  means  of  grace  to  himself  and 
his  pupils,  and  therefore  conscientiously  used,  it  was  yet,  for  a  very 
considerable  time,  a  severe  task  and  duty ;  one  looked  forward  to, 
week  after  week,  with  anxious  solicitude,  and  to  which  he  had  to 
nerve  himself  up  for  its  performance.  There  was,  to  the  hearer, 
very  little  indication  of  anything  of  the  sort,  saving  the  fact  of  a 
little  more  excitement  of  manner  in  the  beginning — very  little 
difference  between  the  exhortations  and  addresses  of  1842  and  those 
of  1872.  In  fact,  one  of  the  happiest  efforts  that  he  ever  made,  to 
be  spoken  of  further  on,  was  the  year  after  the  earliest  of  these 
dates.  And  others  of  the  same  period  might  be  specified.  But, 
for  all,  there  was  the  difficulty  and  reluctance,  never  entirely  over- 
come, to  trust  himself,  beyond  the  recitation  room,  and,  later,  the 
Faculty  meeting,  in  this  manner  of  speaking.  "  It  was,"  said  he, 


116  MEMOIR    OF 

alluding  to  it  subsequently,  and  after  the  trial  in  these  respects 
had  passed  away,  "  it  was  to  me  a  source  of  anxious  anticipation 
and  solicitude  for  a  good  part  of  the  week  before,  especially  when 
I  had  to  open  the  meeting.  On  Thursday  night,  after  it  was  over, 
I  would  feel  relieved.  But  it  was  not  long  before  I  began  to  dread 
the  next  one."  His  earlier  pupils  may  thus  more  gratefully  esti- 
mate the  instructions  and  suggestions  of  those  meetings ;  not  only 
in  view  of  their  intrinsic  value,  but  of  their  cost — the  expenditure 
of  heart  involved  in  their  preparation  and  delivery.  No  less  may 
those  of  a  later  date,  who  received  similar  pleasure  and  benefit, 
gratefully  congratulate  themselves  that  he  thus  persevered,  in  spite 
of  his  reluctance  and  his  difficulties,  until  what  had  been  irksome 
became  pleasurable ;  and  he  thus  became  ready  to  pour  out,  week 
after  week,  those  counsels  of  wisdom,  of  love,  of  warning,  and  of 
encouragement,  by  which  so  many  were  incited  and  strengthened 
to  the  work  of  ministerial  duty.  This  result  proved,  moreover, 
what  he  might  have  done,  had  he  undertaken  to  preach  his  more 
elaborate  discourses  with  the  same  kind  of  preparation,  that  is,  the 
material  thoroughly  mastered,  as  to  its  digestion  and  arrangement, 
and  the  language  extemporaneous.  But,  however  it  may  have  been 
with  such  undertaking,  or  with  efforts  of  similar  kind  elsewhere, 
certainly  there  was  no  doubt  as  to  his  success  and  efficiency  in  the 
Faculty  meeting.  Here,  during  the  later  years  of  his  life,  he  was 
perfectly  at  home,  as  much  so  as  in  the  recitation  room.  And 
there  are  few  of  the  listeners  during  those  last  years,  say,  after  the 
restoration  of  the  Seminary  in  1865,  who  will  not  bear  them  in 
grateful  remembrance.  It  was  pre-eminently  "  the  old  man  elo- 
quent," especially  when  the  topic,  started  by  some  other  member  of 
the  Faculty,  would  strike  upon  some  great  truth  in  which  he  was 
particularly  interested.  The  last  one  of  those  addresses — who  that 
heard  it  can  ever  forget  it,  so  suggestive  to  the  hearers,  so  full  of 
wisdom  and  of  love,  unconsciously  yet  so  beautifully  descriptive  of 
his  own  career,  just  about  to  close ! 

Perhaps,  as  illustrative  of  the  character  of  these  addresses  as  any 
other,  was  one  delivered  in  the  spring  of  1846,  under  circumstances 
peculiarly  solemn,  both  to  himself  and  his  hearers :  that  on  the 
Thursday  night  following  the  reception  of  intelligence  of  the  death 
of  a  member  of  the  class  graduating  the  year  before,  and,  therefore, 
personally  known  to  most  of  the  hearers.  There  were,  moreover, 
additional  features  in  the  case  which  made  the  event  specially 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,  D.  D.  117 

impressive.  The  death  had  been  very  sudden.  This  sudden  death 
was  that  of  one  who  had  enjoyed  unbroken  vigorous  health ;  who 
was  looking  forward  to  a  career  of  activity ;  and  who  was  expected, 
by  his  teachers,  and  his  fellow-students,  to  take  a  commanding 
position,  and  to  wield  a  mighty  influence.  The  language  said  to 
have  been  used  by  Sir  Isaac  Newton  in  regard  to  one  who  was 
taken  in  the  dew  of  his  youth,  perhaps  expressed  the  feelings  of 
Dr.  Sparrow  in  thinking  of  the  death  of  Albert  Duy,  "  if  that 
young  man  had  lived,  we  should  have  known  something."  As  late 
as  1870  or  1871,  he  gave  a  striking  expression  to  these  feelings. 
Some  of  the  students  of  this  later  period  will  remember  his  allusion 
to  one  who,  in  his  expectations,  would  prove  a  "  malleus  heretico- 
rum,"  but  whose  sudden  and  early  departure  showed  the  vanity  of 
all  earthly  expectations.  It  was,  therefore,  with  deeply  solemnized 
feeling  that  he  first  heard  of  this  event,  and  endeavored  to  make 
use  of  it  for  practical  improvement.  The  sketch  which  follows  is, 
of  course,  only  an  outline.  It  will,  however,  afford  some  exhibition 
of  his  own  feelings,  as  also  of  the  mode  in  which  he  endeavored  to 
render  similar  feelings  in  others  productive  of  profitable  reflection. 

"A  DEPARTED  FRIEND. 

"  A  few  words  appropriate  to  the  topic  of  the  moment :  but  that 
topic  itself  needs  no  interpreter.  It  needs  none  to  the  stranger 
who  reads  the  fact  in  the  newspaper.  It  is  more  than  an  ordinary 
passing  bell,  announcing  the  general  fact  of  mortality.  Especially  is 
it  more  to  us.  Next  to  his  family  we  stand.  The  intimacy  of  three 
years  and  the  same  calling  constituted  a  bond  of  communion. 
After  his  departure  he  kept  up,  by  correspondence,  his  connection 
with  this  place.  On  Saturday  last,  perhaps  the  last  letter  he  wrote 
reached  here.  Death  was  standing  by,  bidding  him  finish  and 
prepare.  The  next  morning  he  was  gone ! 

"  The  result  of  all  this  intercourse  has  been  to  give  us  all  a  high 
opinion  of  our  departed  brother. 

"  He  came  to  us  with  a  high  reputation  for  so  young  a  man,  was 
possessed  of  natural  talent,  had  enjoyed  opportunities  of  improve- 
ment, and  was  blessed  with  permanent  health.  To  these,  under  a 
faithful  pastor,  Eev.  Dr.  Clark,  he  had  added  a  Christian  profes- 
sion. The  promises  involved  in  these  he  had  fulfilled.  What 
pleased  us  most,  and  the  value  of  the  consideration  now  plainly 


118  MEMOIR    OF 

occurs,  was  his  growth  in  Christian  character.  The  ripening  of  his 
mind  was  apparent ;  so  was  that  of  his  graces.  When  he  left  us  we 
had  great  hopes.  He  was  found  to  be  a  useful  man,  and  the 
people  wished  him  to  continue  in  his  position.  He  visited  his  home, 
in  Philadelphia,  to  consult,  and  wrote  to  me,  in  part,  about  that. 
This  was  on  Wednesday.  He  was  seized  on  Thursday,  and  died 
on  Sunday ;  and  now  he  is  in  the  grave,  and  we  are  mourning  his 
loss.  Lord,  what  is  man !  Lord,  what  is  human  life — what  human 
expectations ! 

"  These  lessons  are  apt  to  be  forgotten.  As  the  track  of  a  ship  in 
the  waters,  of  a  bird  in  the  air,  or  as  the  changing  of  a  summer's 
cloud,  they  leave  no  permanent  impression.  Let  us  not  be  '  for- 
getful hearers  of  the  word '  of  such  dispensations. 

"  1.  It  teaches  us  the  sovereignty  of  God.  We  are  apt  to  forget 
this,  through  our  worldliness.  If  all  things  flowed  on  in  an  equa- 
ble current,  we  should  forget  God.  'All  things  continue  as  they 
were  from  the  beginning  of  creation,'  is  the  language  of  mocking 
unbelief.  God  breaks  in  upon  this  equable  course,  plants  seed, 
but  lets  not  the  harvest  ripen;  lays  a  foundation,  but  raises  no 
superstructure.  This  He  did  with  our  friend.  '  The  Lord  gave, 
the  Lord  hath  taken  away.' 

"  2.  Again,  we  are  taught  the  insignificance  of  man.  0,  that  we 
should  ever  be  proud  or  think  highly  of  ourselves !  What  have  we 
that  we  have  not  received?  Every  gift,  every  opportunity  of  cul- 
tivating them,  every  sphere  for  exercising  them,  every  hour  allowed 
us  in  the  vineyard,  is  of  the  Lord.  Last  Sunday  I  had  occasion  to 
remark,  'how  readily  the  Lord  can  dispense  with  us;  and  that  He 
employs  us  not  for  His,  but  for  our  sakes.  He  has  made  us,  and 
He  would  make  us  happy  by  employing  our  energies ;  and  this  can 
be  done  only  in  His  service.  Therefore  it  is  that  he  uses  us.'  But 
little  did  I  think  what  a  sad  verification  my  words  were  receiving ; 
that  he  was  refusing  to  employ  an  instrument  that  seemed  eminently 
fit  and  meet  for  the  Master's  use.  '  I  have  no  use  for  thee,  go  at 
once  to  thy  rest  in  Heaven!' 

"3.  It  should  repress  ambition.  How  inconsistent  in  the  followers 
of  Jesus !  He  promises  not  crowns,  but  a  cross.  How  absurd  in 
itself!  See  where  it  must  end.  God  only  knows  how  soon. 

"  It  should  teach  us  to  prepare  and  to  be  prepared  for  our  great 
change.  Youth  and  its  anticipations,  youth  and  its  preparations, 
youth  and  its  comparisons  with  old  age,  make  us  forget  our  mor- 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,    D.  D.  119 

tality  and  sudden  liability  to  death.  Our  friend  being  dead,  in 
all  these  respects,  speaketh.  We  should,  also,  love  to  weep  with 
them  that  weep;  as  we  feel  our  need  of  sympathy,  should  extend  it 
to  others." 

Connected  with  these  two  forms  of  effort  and  of  influence,  was 
another,  already  alluded  to,  which  just  here  may  receive  more 
specific  notice,  that  of  his  Sunday's  work  in  the  chapel.  The  pro- 
fessors, in  turn,  officiated  on  these  occasions,  each  thus  becoming 
due  on  one  Sunday  in  three.  Dr.  Sparrow  was,  perhaps,  at  his 
highest  capacity,  as  a  preacher,  at  this  time.  His  reputation  had 
preceded  him,  but  it  was  soon  recognized  to  be  fully  deserved.  The 
most  striking  characteristic  of  his  sermons  was  that  of  systematic 
thoroughness.  The  subject,  whatever  it  might  be,  was  carefully 
and  naturally  approached,  very  frequently  through  an  elaborate 
introduction,  which,  however,  was  often  made  use  of  to  tell  in  the 
subsequent  discussion,  or  to  dispose  of  subordinate  issues.  When 
thus  reached,  the  subject,  or  truth,  or  principle  to  be  enforced, 
was  fairly  and  vigorously  grasped,  analytically  extricated  from  all 
irrelevancy  and  sources  of  confusion  in  thought  or  in  language, 
put  in  its  relations  to  other  and  corroborative  truths,  and  pressed, 
with  these  its  accumulations,  to  his  anticipated  result.  Along  with 
this  argumentative  power,  was  that  of  a  chastened  yet  vigorous 
imagination,  peculiar  felicity  of  illustration,  especially  of  Scriptural 
quotation,  whether  as  sustaining  the  point  at  issue,  or  as  more 
clearly  exhibiting  its  meaning.  The  language  and  style  of  discus- 
sion were  simple  and  unpretentious,  always  dignified  and  earnest, 
often  exceedingly  impressive,  sometimes  startlingly  so,  at  times 
rising  to  the  highest  degree  of  impassioned  earnestness.  The 
description  of  Dr.  McElroy,  as  he  heard  him  twelve  or  fourteen 
years  before,  in  Ohio,  already  given,  brings  to  view  the  main  char- 
acteristics of  delivery  which  continued  during  his  whole  course. 
The  felicity  of  the  expression  used  by  Dr.  McElroy,  that  of  "his 
whole  countenance  as  a  blaze  of  light,"  will  be  recognized  by  some 
of  his  hearers  of  this  period.  There  were,  of  course,  at  different 
stages  of  his  ministry,  different  degrees  of  physical  power,  of  neryous 
energy,  having  their  natural  influence  upon  his  effectiveness  in 
delivery.  This  was  more  sensibly  felt  by  his  old  pupils,  who  heard 
him  after  a  long  interval.  There  were  times,  indeed,  happy 
moments,  even  to  the  last,  occasionally  through  the  whole  sermon, 
and  during  passages  in  almost  every  sermon,  when  he  was  all  in 


120  MEMOIR    OF 

delivery  that  he  had  ever  been.  The  closing  address  of  the  session 
of  1869,  and  that  of  1872,  will  occur  to  some  of  our  readers  as  illus- 
trations of  this  remark.  So  far  as  regarded  capacity  and  vigor  of 
thought,  there  was,  to  the  close,  no  trace  of  abatement.  His  intel- 
lect was  untouched.  There  was  no  manifestation  of  failure  or 
decay,  not  even  in  what  is  usually  their  first  intimation,  that  of  a 
failing  and  defective  memory.  The  changes  alluded  to,  of  effective- 
ness in  delivery,  were  owing  mainly  to  physical  causes,  the  approach 
of  age,  diminished  capacity  of  sustained  exertion,  and  the  interest 
corresponding.  They  were  partly  due,  also,  in  certain  cases,  to 
causes  of  a  different  character.  The  impossibility  of  entirely  repro- 
ducing the  freshness  of  feeling  and  of  interest  with  which  sermons 
of  an  earlier  date  had  been  prepared  and  preached,  when  they  were 
subsequently  repeated,  was  one  of  these.  The  habit,  again,  of  .later 
years,  of  omitting  parts  of  the  discourse,  particularly  of  leaving  out 
the  introduction,  for  the  purpose  of  shortening,  was  another.  This 
latter  practice  always  had  the  manifest  effect,  and  one  easily 
recognized  by  the  watchful  hearer,  of  dampening  the  interest  of  the 
speaker,  disturbing  his  flow  of  feeling,  and  interfering  with  his 
thorough  absorption  in  the  subject  matter  of  discussion.  These 
omissions  were  more  connected  with  his  later  years.  When  he  first 
came  to  Virginia,  they  were  much  less  frequent.  The  introduction 
enabled  him  to  approach  his  subject  in  such  a  manner  as  to  put 
himself  in  thorough  sympathy  with  its  material  as  it  was  reached ; 
to  give  him  impetus  and  increase  of  interest,  so  as  to  carry  his 
hearers  with  him,  successfully,  to  the  close ;  the  peculiar  charm, 
indeed,  of  his  preaching,  consisted  very  largely  in  this  last  peculiar- 
ity— thorough  identification  of  intellect  and  of  feeling,  alike  with 
the  truths  and  ideas  presented,  the  emotion,  the  voice,  and  the 
whole  personality  so  kindling  with  the  thought,  and  expressing  it, 
that  its  full  power  was  conveyed  to  the  hearer.  No  reproduction 
of  these  sermons  upon  the  printed  page  can  give  any  conception  of 
their  power  as  preached,  say,  during  the  first  half  of  his  ministry  in 
Virginia.  The  same  remark  may  be  made  as  to  many  portions  of 
those  discourses  as  delivered  from  the  pulpit  during  the  later  years 
of  his  life.  It  was  a  rich  treat  to  his  pupils  to  hear  him  at  the 
Diocesan  Convention,  where  he  usually  preached  during  some  part 
of  the  services ;  no  less  so  in  the  meetings  of  associations  and  con- 
vocations, which,  during  the  vacations,  he  was  sometimes  in  the 
habit  of  attending. 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,    D.  D.  121 

As  already  intimated,  these  discourses  were  delivered,  or  rather 
read  from  the  manuscript,  the  reading  bringing  out  the  feeling  and 
thought,  sometimes  in  a  very  impassioned  manner ;  but  still  it  was 
reading,  no  attempt  at  anything  else.  As  to  extemporaneous 
preaching,  the  difficulties  already  alluded  to,  in  connection  with 
the  Thursday  night  services,  were  felt  in  connection  with  the 
pulpit,  and  with  increased  force.  Occasionally,  however,  at  this 
time,  during  the  Lent  services  particularly,  he  would  make  short 
addresses  from  the  chancel.  One,  of  a  very  striking  character,  the 
writer  remembers,  made  to  the  pupils  of  the  High-school,  soon 
after  the  death  of  one  of  their  number,  and  another  to  the  students, 
during  the  first  visit  of  Dr.,  afterward  Bishop  Boone,  to  the 
Seminary,  in  1843.  But  with  these  exceptions,  his  sermons  were 
delivered  from  the  manuscript.  At  the  same  time,  while  there  was 
such  distrust  and  low  estimate  of  his  own  extemporaneous  powers, 
he  had  great  admiration  of  it  as  exhibited  by  others.  Indeed,  it 
was  almost  amusing,  sometimes,  to  hear  his  expressions  of  admira- 
tion for  what  was  very  little  more  than  the  power  of  verbal 
continuance.  The  wonderful  thing  to  him  was,  that  a  man,  without 
flurry  or  discomposure,  could  stand  before  an  audience,  and 
discourse  with  the  same  ease  and  connection  as  under  ordinary 
circumstances.  Especially  was  this  feeling  expressed  in  connection 
with  the  power  of  amplification.  "  When,"  said  he,  speaking  of 
his  own  difficulties,  "when  I  state  my  proposition,  I  have  nothing 
more  to*  say.  How  to  expand,  to  enlarge,  to  amplify,  this  is  my 
trouble;"  and  yet,  in  the  recitation  room,  he  was  doing  it  daily, 
without  embarrassment  or  hesitation.  As  some  of  these  difficulties 
diminished,  by  practicing  in  the  Faculty  meetings,  and  otherwise, 
there  was  a  corresponding  diminution  of  his  admiration  of  mere 
fluency.  But  he  never  lost  his  estimate — indeed,  it  was  rather 
increased  and  heightened — of  the  importance  of  the  extemporaneous 
capacity. 

One  of  the  efforts  of  that  kind,  already  alluded  to,  will  be 
recalled  by  this  allusion  to  the  sermons  of  that  period;  that  which 
took  place  at  the  closing  meeting,  in  the  old  prayer  hall,  of  the 
professors  and  students,  with  Bishop  Boone,  towards  the  close  of 
the  session  of  1842-3.  During  the  week  previous,  Bishop,  then 
Dr.  Boone,  in  his  first  visit  to  this  country,  after  the  opening  of  the 
four  Chinese  ports,  and  with  all  the  expectations  suggested  by  that 
event,  had  been  holding  a  series  of  meetings  with  the  students, 


122  MEMOIR    OF 

and  conferences  with  individuals,  in  reference  to  the  great  work 
opening  in  that  country  to  successful  missionary  exertion.  A  most 
remarkable  degree  of  interest  had  been  called  forth,  and  a  large 
number  of  the  students  were  occupied  with  the  inquiry  as  to  their 
own  course  of  duty.  The  day  of  his  departure,  July  4th,  there 
being  no  regular  exercises  on  that  day,  there  was  a  closing 
meeting  of  final  appeal  and  reiteration,  in  reference  to  the  topics  of' 
previous  occasions.  Dr.  Packard  and  Dr.  May  followed  Dr.  Boone, 
with  remarks  corroborative  of  what  had  been  urged,  and  expressive 
of  their  interest  in  the  subject  of  which  they  had  been  specially 
reminded;  and,  for  the  first  time  during  the  series  of  services, 
they  were  followed  by  Dr.  Sparrow.  His  object,  as  he  remarked, 
in  his  opening  sentences,  was  "  to  remove  any  wrong  impression  that 
might  be  created  by  his  silence,  as  to  his  want  of  sympathy  in 
what  had  been  said,  or  of  interest  in  the  great  work  of  which  his 
brethren  had  been  speaking.  Such  impression  he  could  not 
consent  should  exist.  No  language  could  fully  describe  his  interest 
in  this  great  work  of  extending  to  the  heathen  the  blessings  of  the 
Gospel.  That  work  in  itself,  in  its  results  to  the  missionary,  to  his 
pupils,  and  to  the  world,  when  successful,  passed  all  possibility  of 
human  estimation.  It  was  one,  moreover,  which,  entered  upon  in 
a  proper  spirit,  could  not  know  of  utter  failure,  would  be  productive 
of  beneficial  consequences.  Even  supposing  what,  in  the  world's 
view,  would  be  regarded  as  failure — that  any  such  effort  to  carry 
the  Gospel  to  the  heathen  should  end  in  catastrophe;  that  the 
little  band  of  missionaries,  after  having  bidden  farewell  to  Christian 
friends  and  relatives,  should  never  reach  their  point  of  destination ; 
that  '  He  who  has  gathered  the  winds  in  His  fists '  should  send  after 
them  the  overwhelming  tempest,  and  that,  with  all  their  sanctified 
aspirations  and  plans,  they  should  go  down  in  mid-ocean !  even  in 
such  case,  the  example  and  self-sacrifice  would  not  be  lost.  This 
sacrifice  and  effort  would  be  endless  blessing  to  those  making  it. 
Even  as  undertaken,  although  the  undertaking  should  be  a  failure, 
it  would  incite  others  to  similar  exertions  to  take  up  the  work  which 
had  fallen  from  their  hands,  and  carry  it  on  to  a  successful  conclu- 
sion !"  The  brief  indication  thus  given  of  the  line  of  thought  in 
the  address  can,  of  course,  afford  no  adequate  conception  of  those 
thoughts  as  clothed  in  words  at  the  time,  and  finding  their  highest 
expression  in  the  fervid  emotion  of  the  speaker.  Taken  altogether, 
it  was  one  of  the  most  stirring  and  eloquent  appeals  to  which  the 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  123 

writer  has  ever  listened,  paralleled,  perhaps,  by  expository  dis- 
courses on  the  Temptation,  and  one  on  1  John,  i,  9,  during  the 
Lent  services  of  1871-2,  but  not  exceeded  by  these  or  any  others 
of  later  periods. 

During  this  earlier  portion  of  his  residence  in  Virginia,  also, 
when  there  was  greater  capacity  of  meeting  it,  there  was  very 
considerable  demand  for  his  services  in  the  neighborhood.  He 
preached  very  frequently  in  Alexandria,  Georgetown,  Washington, 
and  Baltimore.  But  it  was  with  more  special  enjoyment,  that  he 
attended  and  took  part  in  the  associations  for  preaching,  held  in 
the  country  parishes.  The  con  vocational  system,  at  that  time,  was 
unknown  in  Virginia.  But  a  great  deal  of  the  work  which  is  now 
done  through  the  convocations,  was  then  done  through  the  associa- 
tions, so  far  as  the  matter  of  preaching  was  concerned,  perhaps  more 
effectively. 

It  now  remains  that  we  speak  more  particularly  of  his  work  in 
the  department  of  instruction,  his  special  duties  as  Professor. 
During  the  first  year,  as  we  have  seen,  he  taught  Church  History ; 
and  this  again  was  added  to  his  duties  at  a  subsequent  period, 
during  the  partial  disorganization  occasioned  by  the  war,  from 
1861  to  1866.  His  notes  and  questions  show  a  very  pains-taking 
and  thorough  mastery  of  the  materials.  It  was  a  part  of  the 
course,  however,  for  which  he  had  no  special  inclination;  and  he 
speaks,  in  a  letter  of  1841,  of  the  eifort  with  which  he  entered 
upon  his  duties.  The  work  by  which  he  was  better  known  to  the 
ten  or  eleven  generations  of  students  who  were  with  him  in 
Virginia,  was  that  in  the  departments  of  Christian  Evidences,  and 
Systematic  Divinity.  And  of  these  it  will  be  proper  to  give  more 
specific  notice.  The  former  of  these,  Christian  Evidences,  including 
Butler's  "Analogy,"  occupied  the  latter  part  of  the  junior  and  the 
earlier  portion  of  the  middle  year.  During  the  first  ten  years, 
perhaps,  in  Virginia,  the  Evidence  course  was  one  which  he  himself 
had  worked  out.  It  consisted  of  written  questions,  with  references. 
The  recitation  was  accompanied  by  a  full  discussion  and  exposi- 
tion of  the  topics  presented;  and  there  was  opportunity  afforded 
to  the  student  to  correct  or  fill  out  imperfect  answers.  Opportu- 
nity was  thus  given  of  thorough  preparation  for  review.  At  a 
later  period  this  was  changed,  and  text-books  were  used.  At  the 
time  spoken  of  the  practice  was  as  described.  The  peculiar 
interest  was  in  the  exposition  and  the  discussion.  And  the  effort 


124  MEMOIR    OF 

of  looking  up  the  material  for  the  answers,  as  also  the  previous 
study  of  the  questions,  constituted  an  admirable  preparation  for 
these,  and  enabled  the  student  fully  to  understand  and  appreciate 
them.  But  for  Dr.  Sparrow's  habitual  self-depreciation,  he  would 
probably  have  continued  this  mode  of  instruction.  Such  course, 
from  year  to  year,  with  additions,  bringing  up  the  arguments  and 
replies  to  new  objections  and  difficulties  from  time  to  time  urged, 
would  have  been  a  valuable  contribution  to  the  department  of 
Apologetics.  The  hope,  indeed,  was  indulged,  even  to  the  last,  by 
some  of  his  friends  and  pupils,  that  among  his  papers  something 
like  this  would  have  been  found.  His  high  standard,  and  his  sense 
of  deficiency,  constituted  to  such  effort  an  insuperable  difficulty. 
Whether,  on  the  whole,  with  his  physique,  and  daily  duties, 
demanding  a  certain  amount  of  daily  exertion,  he  did  not  accom- 
plish more,  going  on  as  he  did,  and  refusing  to  be  implicated  in  the 
labors  and  vexations  of  literary  life,  is  a  question  not  easily 
answered.  But  without  deciding  this  point,  there  need  to  be  no 
hesitation  in  saying  that  such  self-depreciation  was  carried  too  far; 
and  that  inferior  men,  as  they  always  will,  if  superior  ones  stand 
aside,  or  are  backward,  had  to  do  work  that  he  might  and  could 
have  done  very  much  better.  This  was  particularly  felt  during  the 
existence  of  the  "Evangelical  Quarterly,"  from  1852-61;  when 
effort  was  frequently  made,  but  in  vain,  to  enlist  him  among  the 
contributors.  One  of  the  most  admirable  articles  of  that  Review 
was  written  by  a  clergyman,  not  one  of  his  pupils,  who,  after 
drawing  him  out  conversationally,  on  a  certain  subject,  and  getting 
him  to  state  his  views,  put  them  upon  paper,  and  thus  brought 
them  before  the  world.  Not  less  was  it  a  source  of  regret,  with 
reference  to  works  of  a  more  permanent  character.  "  Doctor," 
said  one  of  his  pupils  to  him,  in  1844,  in  reply  to  a  remark  which 
he  had  made,  in  regard  to  Burnet's  exposition,  "  Doctor,  why  do 
not  you  prepare  a  book  on  the  Articles  ?  You  have  the  material, 
why  not  write  it  down."  "Bishop  Mcllvaine,"  was  the  reply, 
"urged  me  to  do  so  ten  years  ago."  But  the  wish  of  bishop  and 
student  alike  failed  to  bring  the  desired  result.  One  of  Dr. 
Sparrow's  pupils  particularly,  the  early-called  and  lamented  Henry 
Dennison,  was  especially  pertinacious  with  reference  to  this  matter, 
and  from  year  to  year  recurred  to  it.  But  the  objections  and 
difficulties  were  always  insuperable.  Apart  from  sermons  and 
addresses,  published  by  special  request,  his  nearest  approaches  to 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  125 

authorship  were  in  this  system  of  questions  on  Evidences,  as  also  in 
a  similar  one  on  Systematic  Divinity. 

Following  his  course  on  specific  evidence,  was  his  instruction 
based  upon  Butler's  "Analogy."  Dr.  Sparrow  made  a  great  deal 
of  this  part  of  his  course.  It  was  not  only  an  exposition  and  de- 
velopment of  the  great  argument  of  that  work,  but  also  of  its  prin- 
ciples, in  their  manifold  application.  The  work  itself  he  had 
thoroughly  mastered.  With  its  line  of  thought,  as  its  details  and 
illustrations,  he  was  perfectly  familiar.  His  own  thinking  was 
greatly  in  accordance  with  its  principles,  and  his  effort  was  to 
imbue  with  it  the  minds  of  his  pupils :  to  teach  them,  with  Butler, 
to  assert  and  positively  decide  no  further  than  real  knowledge 
would  justify;  to  discriminate  carefully  between  what  was  really 
known  and  what  was  not  known;  and  in  all  doubtful  cases  to  judge 
of  the  unknown  by  the  known,  so  far  as  they  had  anything  in  com- 
mon, and  not  to  judge  of  the  known  by  the  unknown.  It  may  be 
said  of  him,  that  he  Butlerized  in  all  his  teaching,  as  in  all  his 
thinking  and  argumentation.  The  "  Analogy  "  stood  in  about  the 
same  relation  to  his  theological  course  as  Hooker  seems  to  have 
intended  that  the  first  book  on  law  should  stand  to  his  subsequent 
argument  on  polity.  What,  however,  Hooker  failed  to  do  with 
the  principles  of  the  book  on  law,  Dr.  Sparrow  succeeded  in  doing 
with  those  of  the  Analogy.  He  consistently  applied  them,  and 
never  seemed  to  lose  sight  of  them.  And  it  was  usually  in  this 
part  of  his  course  that  the  question  with  any  particular  pupil  was 
decided,  whether  or  not  he  would  diverge  from,  or  travel  on,  sym- 
pathizingly  and  lovingly,  with  his  instructor.  This  decision  was, 
no  doubt,  in  many  cases  unconsciously  made.  The  beginning  of 
the  divergence  was  not  at  the  time,  perhaps,  suspected.  But 
events  made  it  manifest,  as  the  application  of  Butler's  principles, 
at  a  later  period,  came  in  conflict  with  some  cherished  opinion. 
Apart,  moreover,  from  such  application  of  these  principles,  or  their 
controlling  influence  in  his  subsequent  teaching,  the  intellectual 
training  involved  in  his  mode  of  mastering  and  applying  the  argu- 
ment to  the  specific  purpose  of  Butler,  was  highly  quickening  and 
beneficial.  In  this,  as  with  the  Evidences,  there  were  written 
questions.  But  these  were  used  only  in  review.  The  work  was 
first  gone  over,  studied,  recited,  and  its  principles  fully  discussed, 
the  questions  coming  in  and  giving  distinctness  and  form  to  the 
whole  preceding  process.  These  recitations  on  Butler  were  some- 


126  MEMOIR    OF 

times  anticipated  with  special  anxiety.  But  they  were  rarely 
remembered  with  any  other  feelings  than  those  of  gratification.  In 
more  cases  than  one,  his  pupils  at  the  Seminary  had  studied  and 
graduated  upon  the  book  elsewhere.  But  never  in  such  manner, 
or  to  such  degree  of  perfection,  as  to  prevent  their  finding  new  light 
in  it  from  their  new  teacher — applications  and  meanings  hitherto 
unrecognized  and  even  unsuspected. 

The  study  of  this  work  was  followed  by  that  of  Systematic 
Divinity.  Prior  to  his  residence  in  Virginia,  Dr.  Sparrow  seems 
to  have  used  other  works,  at  the  same  time  very  largely  a  system 
of  his  own,  like  that  on  Evidences,  with  questions  and  references. 
He  found  in  use  a  text-book,  Knapp's  Theology,  introduced  by  Dr. 
Keith,  and  adopting  this,  continued  to  use  it  until  the  close  of  his 
life.  A  large  portion  of  the  Middle  year  was  occupied  with  this 
work,  in  the  examination  and  discussion  of  topics  of  General  The- 
ology, while  the  Senior  year  following  was  more  particularly  given 
to  the  theological  standards  of  the  Church  of  England,  the  Articles, 
and  Homilies,  and  Prayer-book.  The  characteristics  of  teaching 
already  alluded  to,  in  connection  with  Butler,  were  exhibited  in 
these  later  portions  of  the  course.  The  object  in  Systematic 
Divinity  was  to  settle  it  upon  a  Scriptural  basis,  to  establish  cor- 
rect principles  of  interpretation,  throwing  out  everything  irrelevant 
and  doubtful,  and  thus  giving  prominence  to  what  was  clear — the 
meaning  of  which  was  undoubted.  With  this  there  was  the  con- 
stant recurrence  to  certain  great  established  principles,  the  truth 
and  the  light,  wherever  clear,  being  fearlessly  followed.  At 
the  same  time,  while  indicating  the  region  of  doubtful  specu- 
lation, there  was  a  refusal,  while  within  that  region,  to  indulge  in 
anything  like  dogmatism.  Among  his  qualifications  as  a  theological 
teacher  this  was  not  the  least  important — the  capacity  of  ascertain- 
in  gand  distinctly  recognizing  the  real  limits  of  human  knowledge 
in  historical  fact  and  statement,  as  of  human  attainment  in  theo- 
logical and  philosophical  speculation.  He  recognized  and  pre- 
sented to  his  pupils,  in  these  latter  departments,  the  real  nature  of 
the  issues  involved  in  certain  problems  of  speculation;  and  thus 
showed  the  incapacity  of  finite  powers  to  comprehend,  much  less  to 
solve  them.  His  constant  effort  was  to  quicken  thought,  to  stimu- 
late a  spirit  of  investigation,  not  only  as  to  facts,  but  their  causes 
and  relations;  and  in  such  effort  he  was  pre-eminently  successful. 
But,  in  thought  which  was  not  definite,  and  in  investigation  which 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,     D.  D.  127 

had  no  practically  specific  object,  he  had  little  interest  or  sympathy. 
Consciously  living  himself  in  a  world  of  realities,  he  impressed  his 
pupils  with  the  same  conviction — a  conviction  transforming  alike 
the  highest  results  of  legitimate  speculation  and  the  simplest  mate- 
rials of  revealed  precept  into  those  of  practical  affection  and  per- 
sonal action. 

Nor  was  it  merely  in  the  recitation  room,  in  the  Thursday  night 
meeting,  or  in  the  chapel,  that  his  peculiar  gift  of  impartation  was 
exercised.  He  was  a  teacher  everywhere,  without  intending  it, 
unconsciously  fulfilling  his  vocation.  Men  who  met  with  him  in  social 
life  found  that  they  were  learning  from  him,  that  his  conversation 
was  bringing  to  them  new  ideas,  new  facts  altogether,  or  old  facts 
under  new  aspects  and  in  new  relations.  This  was  peculiarly  the 
case  in  his  intercourse  with  his  pupils.  His  study  was  always 
accessible,  visits  from  students  were  always  cordially  welcomed, 
and  he  was  ever  ready  for  conversation.  Especially  did  he  seem 
to  welcome  and  enjoy  such  visits  when  not  well  enough,  from  his 
headaches,  to  study,  but  able  to  enjoy  conversation,  and  even  partially 
to  forget  his  discomfort.  Never  was  the  power  of  mind  over  matter 
more  clearly  exhibited  than  on  some  of  these  occasions,  in  the 
change  from  languor  and  weakness  to  apparent  strength  and  health, 
as  his  countenance  would  lighten  and  glow  with  the  interest  of 
conversation  and  discussion.  A  visit  and  a  talk,  in  many  cases, 
seemed  to  act  as  a  restorative. 

Of  course,  there  were  some  students  who  enjoyed  such  opportu- 
nities more  largely  than  others.  But  it  was  simply  because  they 
more  sought  and  appreciated  them.  And  some,  perhaps,  of  the 
most  pleasant  reminiscences  of  students  of  those  days  have  their  con- 
nection with  such  occasions  in  the  Doctor's  study,  or  as  they  might 
fall  in  with  him  in  his  walks  to  Alexandria.  The  account  of  one 
of  these  latter,  from  the  recollections  of  a  pupil,  will  not  be,  just 
here,  without  its  interest.  "  It  was  my  first  talk  with  the  dear  old 
Doctor,  and  it  comes  back  to  me  with  a  freshness  and  feeling  of 
pleasure  which  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  describe.  I  was  in  the 
early  part  of  the  Junior  year,  and  had  not  as  yet  met  him  in  recita- 
tion, when  I  overtook  him,  one  afternoon,  about  half  way  between 
the  Seminary  and  Alexandria.  I  had  one  or  two  bundles,  and  my 
wood  saw,  which  I  was  taking  to  town  to  have  sharpened."  The 
students  of  the  present  generation  may  here  be  reminded,  that  in 
those  days  of  primitive  simplicity  wood  was  the  only  fuel  known  on 


128  MEMOIR    OF 

the  Hill,*  and,  with  a  few  rare  exceptions,  the  students,  each  one,  did 
his  own  sawing.  Cumberland  had  not,  as  yet,  appeared.  The  Post- 
office  for  the  Seminary  was  in  Alexandria,  the  students  taking  it 
by  turns,  alphabetically,  to  go  in,  each  afternoon,  for  the  mail ;  and 
bundles  of  all  kinds,  to  and  fro,  came  and  went  in  the  hands  of 
their  owners.  But,  leaving  this  digression,  we  resume  the  ac- 
count. "  The  Doctor,  as  I  came  up,  noticed  the  number  of  my  bun- 
dles, and  insisted  upon  relieving  me,  which  he  did,  by  taking  the 
saw,  and  carrying  it  to  the  edge  of  town,  where  the  sharpener  lived. 
We  were  soon  in  conversation,  the  most  interesting  part  of  it 
started  by  a  question  about  the  Oxford  Tracts,  but  going  on  from 
this  to  other  topics.  Especially  do  I  remember  an  opinion  about 
Coleridge,  expressive  of  a  high  appreciation  of  his  genius,  but  at 
the  same  time  objecting  to  some  of  his  principles,  as  transcending 
those  of  the  Baconian  and  Butlerian  systems.  How  the  conversa- 
tion passed  from  these  topics  to  that  of  poetry,  I  have  no  recol- 
lection. But  I  well  remember  that  portion  of  it ;  and  his  expressions 
of  admiration  in  regard  to  some  of  the  lyrics  of  Thomas  Moore,  as 
also  the  manner  in  which  he  repeated  a  couple  of  stanzas  from  one 
of  them.  Certainly  the  lines  were  very  beautiful,  especially  as  he 
repeated  them.  But  there  can  be,  I  think,  as  little  doubt  that 
their  association  with  Ireland,  and  the  circumstances  under  which 
they  were  first  heard,  in  early  youth  or  childhood,  added  to  his 
impression  of  their  beauty.  The  pleasure  of  that  afternoon's  walk 
and  conversation  I  shall  never  cease  to  remember.  And  I  hope  its 
imperfect  reproduction  may  recall  as  pleasant  ones  to  others  of  his 
pupils  who  have  enjoyed  the  same  opportunities." 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  Dr.  Sparrow  was  finding  his  full  sphere 
of  influence,  as  of  grateful  occupation,  in  his  new  field  of  duty.  It 
was  not  very  long,  however,  before  there  was  presented  a  disturb- 
ing question,  inducements  to  a  change,  which  required  deliberation 
and  a  struggle,  enabling  him  to  decide  as  to  what  constituted  his 
course  of  duty.  In  the  year  1844  there  came  an  invitation  and 
earnest  request  that  he  would  return  to  Gambier,  and  resume  the 
duties  of  his  old  position.  Subsequent  invitations,  of  a  most  flat- 
tering character,  as  we  shall  see,  were  given  him  to  the  same 
position.  But  this  first  one  came  so  soon,  and  it  brought  back  so 

*  Dr.  May,  who  had  lived  in  the  coal  region,  first  introduced  Anthracite  to  the  com- 
munity on  the  Hill,  and  soft  coal  followed,  a  few  years  later,  when  the  canal  from 
Cumberland  reached  Alexandria. 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  129 

many  of  the  associations  and  schemes  of 'usefulness  in  his  early 
field  of  labor,  recalling  as  it  did  his  deep  interest  and  early  efforts 
for  the  success  of  the  College  and  Seminary,  that  he  was  greatly 
moved  by  it,  and  found  some  difficulty  in  reaching  his  decision. 
As  will  be  seen  from  his  correspondence,  his  work  in  Virginia,  and 
his  official  connections,  were  all  agreeable.  The  only  difficulty 
which  had  its  weight,  was  that  connected  with  the  use  of  slave 
labor,  in  the  domestics  of  his  household,  to  which  he  had  not  been 
accustomed,  and  to  which  he  felt  reluctance.  His  general  views  of 
that  subject  will  come  out  incidentally,  in  the  course  of  our  narra- 
tive. It  is  here  alluded  to  simply  as  indicating  one  of  the  ele- 
ments to  be  regarded  in  reaching  his  conclusion.  This,  however, 
and  all  others,  were  fully  and  carefully  considered,  and  the  result 
of  that  consideration  was  that  he  ought  not  to  make  the  proposed 
change.  The  following  letter  to  his  old  friend,  Dr.  Wing,  written 
immediately  after  reaching  the  conclusion  thus  indicated,  will  have 
its  interest  in  connection  with  this  subject: — 

"  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  FAIRFAX  COUNTY,  VA.; 

"  September  26th,  1844. 
"  DEAR  BROTHER  : — 

"  I  write  with  a  heavy  heart,  in  part  because  I  know  my  letter 
will  give  heaviness  to  yours.  After  a  most  painful  and  protracted 
consideration  of  the  question  of  removal  to  Ohio,  I  am  brought  to 
the  conclusion  that  I  ought  not  to  leave  my  present  post.  I  have 
weighed  the  matter,  day  and  night,  ever  since  it  has  been  placed 
before  me.  Whether  reading,  or  talking,  or  dreaming  I  might 
almost  say,  there  has  been  an  under  current  of  thought  upon  this 
subject,  which  has  never  for  a  moment  ceased  to  flow.  The  various 
considerations  that  have  presented  themselves,  it  would  be  impossi- 
ble for  me  to  give  or  even  hint  at.  Indeed,  it  would  answer  no 
purpose.  I  may  say,  however,  that  amongst  the  influences  which 
have  swayed  me,  has  not  been  anything  like  indifference  toward  the 
persons  who  have  been  any  way  connected  with  the  giving  of  the 
call.  The  bishop's  happiness  I  should  deem  it  my  happiness  to 
promote,  to  the  utmost  of  my  ability;  and  you  know  that  in  the 
welfare  of  the  college  I  take  the  deepest  interest.  For  the  Faculty, 
also,  I  have  great  personal  regard.  As  to  yourself,  I  feel  con- 
strained to  say,  the  occasion  is  so  very  special,  that  there  is  not  a 
man  of  all  my  acquaintance  in  close  neighborhood  to  whom  I  would 


130  MEMOIR    OF 

rather  live  and  die;  and  my  family  partakes  fully  of  the  same  feel- 
ing toward  yourself  and  Mrs.  Wing.  But  after  a  careful  and 
prayerful  consideration  of  what  my  friends  on  both  sides  of  the 
Alleghanies  have  said,  I  cannot  see  it  my  duty  to  leave  this  Insti- 
tution. 

"I  can  scarcely  refrain  from  going  into  the  reasons  of  my  deter- 
mination; but  I  feel  it  would  be  an  unsatisfactory  and  abortive 
attempt,  in  the  narrow  space  of  a  letter,  and,  therefore,  I  forbear. 
I  wish,  however,  that  it  may  be  distinctly  understood  that  I  con- 
sider the  post  so  unanimously  offered  me  by  Bishop  Mcllvaine  and 
the  Trustees  as  one  highly  honorable,  responsible  and  important, 
and  requiring  to  fill  it  adequately,  a  man  of  higher  attainments  and 
greater  ability  than  I  pretend  to  possess. 

"I  rejoice  that  you  did  not  come  to  see  me,  under  the  circum- 
stances. Under  any  others,  it  would  rejoice  my  heart  to  see  you. 
I  go  next  Monday  to  the  General  Convention  at  Philadelphia.  I 
wish  you  were  a  delegate,  that  I  might  talk  over  old  times  with 
you. 

"  I  have  written  to  Mr.  Bronson,  as  Chairman  of  the  Committee. 
The  bishop  I  shall  see  in  Philadelphia.  I  wish  he  could  know  of 
my  determination  before  we  meet. 

"This  is  the  seventh  letter  I  have  written,  'hand  running,'  and  I 
am  tired.  Mrs.  Sparrow  and  the  children  join  in  affectionate  re- 
membrances to  Mrs.  Wing.  Your  affectionate  brother, 

"  WILLIAM  SPARROW." 

The  General  Convention  thus  alluded  to  was  the  first  in  which 
Dr.  Sparrow  appeared  as  a  delegate  from  Virginia.  For  many 
succeeding  sessions  he  occupied  a  similar  position.  From  his 
repugnance  to  the  effort  of  extemporaneous  speaking,  as  from  all 
want  of  practice  in  parliamentary  discussion,  he  was  one  of  the 
silent  members  of  the  body.  One,  however,  of  the  most  effective 
of  his  fellow  delegates,  in  debate,  as  in  all  other  respects,  Mr.  Philip 
Williams,  always  spoke  of  him  as  pre-eminently  wise  in  council, 
and,  therefore,  a  most  valuable  member  of  the  delegation. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  this  earlier  portion  of  Dr.  Sparrow's 
labors  in  Virginia,  from  1841  to  1848,  was  contemporaneous  with 
the  most  earnest  part  of  the  Oxford  Tract  controversy.  The  first 
Diocesan  Convention  which  he  attended,  soon  after  his  arrival, 
in  May,  1841,  in  Alexandria,  witnessed  a  struggle  in  reference 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  131 

to  that  subject.  The  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  the  State 
of  the  Church,  Dr.  Empie,  having,  in  his  report,  alluded  to  the 
Tracts,  and  warned  against  them,  objection  was  offered,  and  the 
effort  made  to  prevent  its  acceptance,  and,  of  course,  endorse- 
ment by  the  Convention.  One  of  the  objections,  most  pertinaciously 
urged,  was  that  of  the  incompetency  of  the  Convention  to  an 
opinion  upon  the  merits  of  certain  publications  which  the  majority 
had  not  read.  This  objection  was  neutralized,  to  a  great  degree, 
by  the  closing  speech  of  the  author  of  the  report,  in  the  shape  of 
abundant  quotations,  the  meaning  and  drift  of  which  could  scarcely 
be  misunderstood;  and  the  report  was  accepted.  It  was  a 
gratifying  indication  to  Dr.  Sparrow,  as  to  the  nature  of  his  new 
ecclesiastical  associations,  and  of  the  sympathy  and  assistance 
upon  which  he  might  depend,  in  the  performance  of  his  official 
duties.  His  own  position,  as  to  the  leaders  and  principles  of  this 
movement,  was  clearly  denned  and  distinctly  understood.  From 
the  first,  to  his  mind,  their  real  character  and  tendency  were 
manifest.  He,  therefore,  made  it  his  special  work,  recognized  it  as 
the  work  to  which,  in  his  peculiar  position,  he  had  been  providen- 
tially called,  to  counteract  and  neutralize  their  influence.  It  was, 
in  his  estimation,  an  effort,  under  the  forms  of  sacerdotalism  and 
sacramentalism,  to  materialize  Christianity,  to  pervert  it  as  a 
religion  of  inward  spirit  and  life,  to  one  of  outward  form  and 
ceremony.  The  excuse  itself,  which  was  made  for  this  movement, 
and  which  doubtless  actuated  some  of  its  leaders,  that  of  expelling 
the  demon  of  German  Rationalism  by  Patristic  authority,  was,  in 
his  view,  a  dishonor  done  to  God's  word,  and  only  calculated  to 
increase  the  evil  which  it  undertook  to  remedy.  With  these  views, 
there  could  be  little  doubt  or  hesitation  as  to  the  character  of  his 
teaching.  As  the  questions  specifically  raised  in  this  controversy 
came  up,  they  were  subjected  to  thorough  examination,  and  this 
with  reference  to  a  twofold  object.  First,  to  show  that  the 
novelties  with  which  so  many  were  fascinated,  and  which,  from  this 
feature  of  their  novelty,  had  a  charm  to  a  certain  class  of  mind 
among  his  students,  were  old  errors.  Secondly,  that  they  were  not 
only  errors  tested  in  the  light  of  Scripture,  but  distinctly  repudiated 
by  the  English  and  Continental  Reformers;  not  capable  of  adjust- 
ment to  the  system  of  those  Reformers,  but  belonging,  in  logic  and 
in  spirit  alike,  to  the  system  from  which  they  had  separated.  The 
trumpet,  upon  these  points,  gave  no  uncertain  sound.  His  own 


132  MEMOIR    OF 

convictions  were  clear,  as  to  the  nature  of  the  issues  involved,  as  to 
their  fundamental  character,  as  to  the  impossibility  of  compromise, 
especially  of  the  favorite  one  of  that  period,  the  via  media,  except 
by  a  betrayal  of  essential  Christian  doctrine.  As  these  con- 
victions were  clear  to  his  own  mind,  he  attempted  to  place  them 
clearly  before  the  minds  of  others.  His  pupils,  whether  they 
adopted  his  views  or  not,  were  in  no  doubt  as  to  his  meaning. 
When  failing  to  produce  conviction,  he  never  failed  in  the  impression 
of  thorough  earnestness  and  truthfulness  of  intent,  as  of  trans- 
cendent ability.  This  impression,  that  of  the  sacredness  of  truth, 
and  of  all  convictions  attained  in  its  reception,  reached  all  classes 
of  his  pupils,  even  those  who  differed  from  him  most  widely. 
While  to  a  special  class,  those  who  were  in  sympathy,  or  who,  in 
the  attitude  of  learners,  were  seeking  to  know  the  truth,  to  clear 
and  systematize  their  views,  to  be  able  to  see  and  to  give  a  reason 
for  the  hope  that  was  in  them,  these  instructions  were  recognized 
as  of  the  highest  interest  and  importance.  The  effective  Teacher, 
of  course,  who  forms  the  sound  and  spiritual  theologian,  is  the 
Holy  Ghost.  Where  His  teaching  has  not  preceded,  and  does  not 
accompany  that  of  the  theological  professor,  the  result  must  and 
will  be  a  failure.  It  is  not,  therefore,  properly  a  matter  of  surprise, 
that  a  portion  of  the  pupils  of  Dr.  Sparrow,  or  of  any  other 
teacher,  should  eventually  be  enlisted  among  his  opponents.  Even 
with  these,  however,  a  powerfully  modifying  influence  is  often 
exerted.  Their  sacerdotalism,  or  sacramentalism,  or  ecclesiasti- 
cism,  is  of  a  very  different  character  from  what  it  would  have 
been,  formed  under  other  influences.  These  elements,  in  many 
cases,  precede  the  teacher's  instructions,  survive,  in  spite  of  them, 
but  are  greatly  modified  by  them.  At  the  same  time,  there  is  a 
different  class;  and  Dr.  Sparrow  had  the  joy  of  knowing  that  there 
was  a  good  proportion  of  it  among  his  pupils ;  those  who  thoroughly 
sympathized  with  and  appreciated  their  teacher,  fully  received  his 
instructions  and  principles,  and  then  carried  them  out  in  lives  of 
ministerial  activity  and  usefulness.  The  great  contest  to  which 
allusion  has  been  made,  and  to  which  his  teaching  of  that  period 
necessarily  had  large  reference,  was  reaching  its  climax  at  the  time 
of  the  General  Convention  in  which  Dr.  Sparrow  first  appeared  as 
a  Delegate  from  Virginia.  The  fullest  discussion  of  its  merits,  of 
any  in  that  body,  took  place  on  that  occasion.  This  discussion 
only  preceded,  by  a  few  months,  the  first  decided  exode  of  the 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  133 

leaders  of  that  movement  from  the  Church  of  England  to  that  of 
Rome.  One  prominent  individual  took  part  in  this  discussion, 
scouting  all  notion  of  Homeward  tendencies  in  the  Oxford 'leaders 
or  their  objects,  who,  in  a  very  short  time,  followed  them.  These 
latter  developments,  perhaps,  had  more  effect  than  any  discussion, 
in  arresting  this  movement,  and  bringing  discredit  upon  its 
advocates.  But  its  elements  remained,  as  the  seed  of  a  later 
harvest  of  error  and  annoyance;  elements  of  unscriptural  error, 
palliated  and  toyed  with  on  one  side,  and  resisted  on  the  other, 
until  they  reached  their  development  in  full-blown  Ritualism.  Dr. 
Sparrow's  work,  therefore,  all  along,  during  the  lull  between,  as 
during  the  hottest  contest  of  the  Tractarian  and  Eitualistic  contro- 
versies, was  to  expose  and  to  refute  error  as  it  appeared,  and  to 
guard  his  pupils  against  the  reception  of  germinal  principles  in 
which  the  worst  errors  of  these  movements  found  their  origin.  In 
this  respect,  his  whole  professorial  career  was  a  contest;  a  contest 
in  which  many  who  agreed  with  him  doctrinally  did  not  sympathize, 
and,  indeed,  regarded  as  unnecessary.  But  "wisdom  is  justified  of 
her  children."  Certainly,  the  evolution  of  the  last  ten  or  fifteen 
years  justifies  every  effort  in  the  way  of  Scriptural  teaching  to 
anticipate  and  prevent  it.  Had  no  such  effort  been  made,  no 
warning  preceded,  how  much  more  hopeless  would  have  been  the 
present  effort  and  prospect  of  resistance.* 

The  following  communication,  from  one  of  the  Virginia  clergy, 
Dr.  Slaughter,  who,  during  this  period,  was  brought  into  association 
with  Dr.  Sparrow,  will  be  read  with  interest,  not  only  in  view  of  the 
criticism  expressed,  but  as  exhibiting  the  views  of  the  Doctor  him- 
self upon  a  topic,  at  that  time,  of  exciting  interest  and  importance. 
As  already  mentioned,  Dr.  Sparrow  found  great  pleasure  in  attend- 
ing the  religious  meetings  carried  on  for  several  days  by  associated 
clergymen  from  neighboring  parishes.  We  find,  from  his  corres- 
pondence, that  such  was  his  habit  in  Ohio ;  and  when  he  came  to 
his  new  home,  in  Virginia,  this  habit  was  continued.  His  part  of 
the  work,  however,  owing  to  the  peculiarity  alluded  to  already,  and 
by  this  correspondent,  was  that  of  preaching  from  the  pulpit.  The 

*  "  For  forty  years — ever  since  the  first  Oxford  Tract  was  issued — Dr.  Sparrow  has 
stemmed  this  current  of  error  which  has  been  coming  in  like  a  flood  upon  our  Church. 
To  him,  under  God,  we  owe  it,  more  than  to  any  other  man,  living  or  dead,  that  we 
still  have  a  body  of  Evangelical  clergy,  or  that  there  is  still  hope  that  Achan  shall  be 
cast  out  as  one  that  troubleth  Israel." — Dr.  McKim's  Sermon  on  the  Sunday  after 
Dr.  Sparrow's  Funeral. 


134  MEMOIR    OF 

exhortations  following  the  sermons,  or  of  the  informal  prayer  meet- 
ings, he  left  for  others.  In  some  few  exceptional  cases,  under 
pressure,  he  departed  from  his  usual  rule,  but  always  at  the 
sacrifice  of  feeling  preceding,  and  with  annoyance  following.  The 
criticism,  therefore,  is  very  largely  correct,  as  to  the  Doctor's  pecu- 
liarities, of  that  time.  But,  it  will  read  very  strangely  to  some  of 
his  pupils  of  later  years.  These  will  remember  not  so  much  the 
intellectual  power,  wonderful  as  that  sometimes  was,  but  the  close, 
searching,  startling,  practical  appeals  to  the  heart  and  conscience. 
But  we  let  the  writer  speak  for  himself. 

"  I  cannot  lay  a  just  claim  to  any  special  intimacy  with  Dr. 
Sparrow.  He  always  seemed  to  be  'so  above  me/  that  I  was 
content  to  look  up  to  him  with  admiration,  as  we  do  at  the  stars, 
and  silently  rejoice  in  the  light  which  he  shed  all  around  him — a 
light  which  will  long  stream  above  the  horizon  which  hides  him 
from  our  view,  as  does  that  of  the  sun  after  he  has  gone  down  to 
our  eyes.  I  have  never  come  in  contact  with  the  man  who  com- 
bined the  like  breadth  of  comprehension  and  luminous  insight  into 
the  heart  of  a  subject,  and  who  marshaled  his  thoughts  in  such 
logical  phalanx,  and  made  them  march  in  such  lucid  order,  as  this 
great  master  of  sentences.  It  was  one  of  the  purest  joys  I  have 
ever  known,  to  have  him,  in  private  converse  or  in  public  discourse, 
unfold  a  dark,  intricate  topic,  until  it  was  transfigured  into  an  illu- 
minated transparency. 

"  And  yet,  with  all  his  wondrous  powers,  our  friend  had  a  serious 
defect  as  a  preacher ;  a  defect  of  which  he  was  painfully  conscious, 
and  which  I  have  heard  him  bitterly  lament.  I  mean  in  practical, 
in  moral  capacity,  to  come  down  from  the  purely  intellectual  sphere  in 
which  he  habitually  moved,  and  adapt  himself  to  the  average  hearer. 
He  had  power  to  convince  the  understanding,  and  that  was  the  object- 
ive point  at  which  he  aimed.  He  had  less  skill  in  awakening  the  con- 
science and  moving  the  heart.  What  are  called  thinking  men, 
moving  in  literary  circles,  and,  necessarily,  educated  hearers,  too 
often  forget  that  it  is  not  by  pure  reason  that  people  in  general  are 
made  better — not  by  any  rational  process,  so  much  as  by  the  mag- 
netism which  streams  from  highly  charged  emotional  natures,  and 
by  '  those  touches  of  nature  which  make  the  whole  world  kin.'  Dr. 
Sparrow  saw  this  truth  clearly ;  and  he  has  often  come  unexpect- 
edly to  associations  where  he  heard  there  was  an  awakening, 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  135 

declining  to  preach,  and  averring  that  he  came  to  try  and  detect  the 
secret  of  other  men's  success  on  such  occasions,  and  endeavor  to  go 
and  do  likewise.  I  remember  that  he  spent  a  week  or  more  with  me 
when  I  was  pastor  in  Petersburg,  and  holding  daily  services  for  many 
weeks  continuously.  He  professed  the  greatest  longing  for  the 
gift  of  successful  preaching ;  and  often  said  he  would  sacrifice  all 
he  possessed  for  the  power  of  adaptation — the  wisdom  to  win  souls. 

"  This  defect  was  not  of  the  intelligence,  for  all  things  to  him, 
humanly  speaking,  were  possible  in  that  sphere.  It  was  probably 
the  result  of  his  life  in  the  chair  of  the  professor,  making  it  incum- 
bent upon  him  to  be  armed  at  all  points,  and  equipped  for  all 
emergencies — in  a  high  and  peculiar  sense,  a  defender  of  the  faith. 
Hence  the  habit  of  sounding  everything  to  the  bottom,  measuring 
its  length  and  breadth,  weighing  it  in  the  balances,  and  finding 
precisely  what  it  was  worth.  This  habit  of  treating  every  subject 
thoroughly,  and  guarding  his  front,  flanks  and  rear,  like  a  trained 
tactician,  made  it  morally  impossible  for  him  to  condescend  to  that 
guerrilla  warfare,  in  which  a  sharp  eye,  and  a  ready  hand,  and 
celerity  of  movement  will  often  be  more  effective  than  the  heaviest 
artillery  wielded  according  to  the  art  of  war. 

"  To  change  the  figure,  if  he  saw  a  man  struggling  in  the  water, 
while  he  would  sympathize  as  tenderly  and  heartily  with  him  as 
others,  perhaps  more  so,  the  habit  of  his  mind  would  be  to  call  for 
a  life-boat  and  save  him  according  to  the  rules  of  art,  rather  than 
instinctively  plunge  and  swim  for  his  life,  dragging  the  drowning 
man,  by  his  locks,  to  the  land. 

"There  was  one  subject  on  which  Dr.  Sparrow  and  I  were  in  per- 
fect accord — the  subject  of  African  colonization.  He  believed  that 
America  in  Africa  was  the  true  solution  of  Africa  in  America. 
Knowing  his  interest  in  this  question,  I  always  nominated  him  as  a 
delegate  to  the  annual  meeting  in  Washington,  and  he  always 
attended  punctually.  In  handling  this  subject,  I  always  felt  the 
need  of  a  satisfactory  basis  for  the  institution  of  slavery,  as  it 
existed  among  us ;  and  I  sought  it  from  Dr.  Sparrow.  This  led  to 
frequent  conversations  between  us,  and  to  a  correspondence,  of 
which  I  have  preserved  one  of  his  letters.  Although  he  was  born 
in  the  North,  and  educated  in  Ireland,  he  had  no  sympathy  with 
immediate  abolitionists.  The  following  extract  from  his  letter 
will,  I  think,  be  of  interest.  It  seems  to  me  '  like  apples  of  gold  in 
pictures  of  silver.' 


136  MEMOIR    OF 

" '  When  Christ  came  into  the  world  it  was  full  of  kingdoms.  That 
these  should  be  held  together  was  indispensable  to  the  existence 
and  progress  of  society.  Society  cannot  advance^er  saltum;  it 
must  advance  by  degrees.  So  also  it  must  be  improved,  for  the 
most  part,  from  within.  External  ameliorations,  which  outrun  the 
internal,  do  no  good;  witness  the  South  American  Bepublics  and 
the  history  of  France.  To  improve  society,  we  must  implant  the 
principle  within  it,  and  let  it  leisurely  and  without  violence  work 
itself  out  to  the  surface,  amending,  last  of  all,  the  municipal 
arrangements.  This  is  the  general  rule.  Now  Christ  came  to  set 
up  a  kingdom  not  of  this  world.  It  was  not  of  the  same  class  with 
existing  kingdoms;  it  was  not  to  be  their  rival  nor  their  fellow. 
It  was  to  be  comprehensive  of  them  all,  taking  possession  of  them, 
and  having  them  use  their  external  features  and  peculiarities, 
except  as  these  might  be  gradually  and  silently  modified  by  its 
permeating  and  all  pervading  influence.  Among  these  external 
relations,  I  set  down  war,  the  political  relations  of  men,  domestic 
slavery,  and,  in  a  certain  sense,  divorce.  Now,  in  regard  to  these, 
there  is  a  certain  ideal  state  which  all  would  call  perfection,  and 
which  may  be  realized,  perhaps,  in  the  Millennial  times,  and  in  the 
meantime  to  be  approximated.  This  state  we  would  call  absolute 
right,  and  it  consists  in  the  total  removal  of  some  of  the  things 
named,  and  in  the  modification  of  others.  To  bring  about  this 
state  of  things,  so  far  as  the  present  time  is  concerned,  was  the 
object  of  setting  up  Christ's  kingdom.  And  that  object  will  not 
fail.  It  may  tarry,  but  it  will  come  at  last.  But  how  is  Christi- 
anity to  realize  in  the  actual  this  beautiful  and  infinitely  desirable 
ideal?  It  must  not  precipitate  matters;  that  would  prove  disas- 
trous. It  would  be  like  plucking  up  the  tares  before  the  proper 
time.  As  the  defects  and  abuses  of  society  referred  to  are  govern- 
mental, to  assail  them  directly  would  bring  the  kingdom  of  Christ 
in  direct  collision  with  the  kingdoms  of  this  world ;  which  would  be 
most  pernicious  several  ways.  Humanly  speaking,  it  would  exter- 
minate the  Church  of  Christ ;  for  men  would  fight  against  it  without 
restraint  of  conscience,  looking  at  it  as  a  mere  earthly  interest. 
Aside  from  this,  the  effect  upon  the  world  itself  would  be  most 
blinding.  Christ's  kingdom  is  not  wealth,  nor  political  sagacity, 
nor  military  prowess ;  '  but  righteousness,  peace  and  joy  in  the 
Holy  Ghost.'  Above  all,  it  would  set  aside  those  positive  precepts 
which  Christ  has  given  in  regard  to  the  powers  that  may  be  over 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  137 

us.  In  all  this  Christianity  is  regarding  the  expedient.  Just  as 
divorce  was  allowed  to  the  Jews,  though  the  true  idea,  the  right  in 
regard  to  marriage,  was  otherwise ;  so  Christianity  forbears  to  press 
things  which  it  hopes  to  see  realized  hereafter  in  the  world.  In 
fixing  her  eye  upon  the  right,  she  makes  provision  for  progress. 
In  regulating  the  pursuit  of  that  object  by  the  expedient,  she  has 
a  wise  reference  to  the  nature  of  man,  and  the  condition  of  the 
world  as  fallen,  and  takes  care  that  the  progress  shall  not  be 
checked.  Eight  gives  an  onward  motion  to  the  car,  expediency 
keeps  it  from  running  off  the  track.  Each  is  indispensable  in  its 
place;  neither  can  be  omitted,  nor  can  their  order  and  mutual 
relations  be  interfered  with,  without  consequences  which  self  love, 
benevolence  and  conscience  must  recoil  from.  To  present  the  sub- 
ject properly,  would  require  much  expansion  and  explanation ;  and  if 
I  was  writing  to  one  who  would  read  what  I  have  written  in  a 
captious  spirit,  I  would  add  many  limitations,  checks  and  illustra- 
tions.' 

"  The  last  sentence  is  a  good  example  of  what  I  said  above,  of  the 
Doctor's  aversion  to  touch  a  subject  which  he  could  not  exhaust 
and  put  beyond  all  cavil  and  misconstruction." 

In  reference  to  the  closing  topic  alluded  to  in  this  communica- 
tion, a  remark  was  once  made  in  Dr.  Sparrow's  presence,  as  to  the 
mode  of  teaching  and  action  pursued  toward  it  by  the  Apostles  and 
inspired  writers  of  the  New  Testament.  His  reply,  in  substance, 
was,  that  the  way  in  which  the  New  Testament  writers  dealt  with 
it,  in  the  light  of  what  was  going  on  around  him,  constituted,  to  his 
mind,  high  evidence  of  their  inspiration.  It  was  not,  under  their 
outward  circumstances,  the  wisdom  of  man. 

The  following  reminiscences  of  a  student  of  the  latter  portion  of 
this  period,  Eev.  Charles  E.  Ambler,  while  referring  to  one  or  two 
points  already  mentioned,  contain  others,  which  will  have  their 
interest  in  this  connection.  Of  special  interest  is  the  last  inci- 
dent related,  illustrative  of  Dr.  Sparrow's  feelings  in  regard  to 
everything  which  would  bring  reproach  upon  the  Seminary,  or 
suspicion  upon  the  Christian  character  and  consistency  of  his 
pupils.  He  had  a  high  standard  of  ministerial  and  lay  consist- 
ency. With  this,  he  had  a  clear  perception  of  the  opinions  and 
judgments  of  worldly  men,  in  reference  to  open  improprieties  of 
Christian  professors.  And  thus,  in  view  both  of  their  spiritual 
benefit,  as  for  the  avoidance  of  reproach  upon  their  Christian  and 


138  MEMOIR    OF 

ministerial  calling,  he  endeavored  to  impress  his  convictions  upon 
those  under  his  instruction.  Herein,  too,  he  was  eminently  suc- 
cessful. There  were  pupils,  as  already  mentioned,  who  did  not 
adopt  his  theological  system.  But  rarely,  if  ever,  was  it  the  case 
that  one  could  be  found  who  did  not  bow  in  reverence  to  his  high 
demand  for  Christ-like  excellence  and  holiness;  for  single-hearted 
devotion,  in  a  life  unspotted  from  the  world,  to  the  Master's  service. 

"  It  was  in  the  year  1842  that  I  saw  Dr.  Sparrow  for  the  first 
time.  He  had  then  but  recently  come  from  Gambier,  in  Ohio,  to 
take  the  chair  of  Systematic  Divinity  in  the  Virginia  Seminary, 
and  was  attending  the  Virginia  Convention,  which  that  year  met 
in  the  town  of  Staunton.  His  reputation  as  a  learned  man  and 
profound  theologian  was  already  very  great ;  and,  though  but  a  boy 
at  the  time,  I  can  well  remember  how,  as  he  sat  in  the  Convention, 
with  folded  arms  and  down-turned  countenance,  saying  nothing,  but 
apparently  noting  everything  said  by  others,  he  seemed  to  come  up 
fully  to  my  ideal  of  a  great  divine. 

"  When,  a  year  or  two  after  this,  I  went  to  the  High-school,  near 
the  Seminary,  in  the  chapel  of  the  latter,  for  the  first  time,  I  heard 
the  Doctor  preach.  I  had  been  told  by  my  schoolmates  that, 
though  no  doubt  a  great  preacher,  he  was  quite  too  deep  to  be 
understood  by  boys ;  and  that,  therefore,  there  was  no  use  to  listen 
to  him.  So  fully  did  I  become  impressed  with  this  idea,  that,  for 
several  times  when  he  preached,  I  would  not  pretend  to  follow  his 
train  of  thought,  but  would  sit,  enduring  as  patiently  as  possible 
what  I  believed  it  impossible  for  me  to  enjoy.  But,  even  then, 
while  taking  little  account  of  what  he  said,  I  remember  watching, 
with  delight,  the  play  of  his  fine  countenance,  reflecting,  as  it  did, 
with  the  most  pleasing  variety,  the  sentiments  he  was  uttering.  His 
high,  expansive  forehead,  his  mild,  yet  piercing  eyes,  so  radiant 
with  thought,  as  he  looked  up  from  his  manuscript ;  the  smile  that 
would  play  on  his  countenance,  as  some  truth  of  the  Gospel  would 
come  up  before  him  with  new  fullness  and  beauty — all  these  seem 
still  before  me,  as  I  recall  the  image  which  he  left  upon  my  mind 
in  those  early  days. 

"  At  length,  becoming  more  and  more  dissatisfied  with  being  a 
mere  looker-on  at  the  Doctor's  preaching,  I  determined,  at  least,  to 
make  an  effort  to  understand  him,  and  so,  if  possible,  get  some  of 
that  pleasure  and  profit  which  others  seemed  to  draw  so  largely 
from  his  discourses.  Accordingly,  one  Sunday,  as  I  seated  myself, 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  139 

after  the  Morning  Service,  I  made  up  my  mind  that  I  would  give 
him  all  the  attention  of  which  I  was  capable,  from  the  beginning  of 
his  sermon  to  its  close,  and  thus  fairly  test  the  question  whether  I 
could  understand  him  or  not.  To  my  great  surprise  and  delight, 
he  opened  his  subject  in  a  manner  perfectly  clear  and  simple,  and 
and  at  the  same  time  highly  interesting,  riveting  my  attention  from 
the  start,  and  carrying  me  along  with  him,  with  increasing  interest, 
to  the  close  of  his  argument.  As  he  concluded,  with  some  practical 
lessons  from  the  subject,  my  mind  seemed  to  be  left  in  a  state  of 
perfect  satisfaction  and  acquiescence  in  what  he  had  said.  And 
such  was  ever  afterwards  the  effect  of  his  preaching  upon  me  when 
I  was  privileged  to  hear  him. 

"  In  the  year  1845  I  became  a  student  of  the  Seminary,  entering 
the  junior  class,  which,  at  that  time,  was  'taught  by  Dr.  Sparrow, 
as  well  as  my  memory  serves  me,  only  in  the  Evidences  of  Chris- 
tianity. The  subject,  in  itself  one  of  deep  and  absorbing  interest  to 
every  intelligent  and  earnest-minded  Christian,  seemed  peculiarly 
adapted  to  bring  into  play  the  finest  powers  of  Dr.  Sparrow's  mind. 
While  his  questions  stimulated  to  the  utmost  the  spirit  of  inquiry 
as  to  the  foundations  of  our  faith,  his  lucid  expositions  left  no  room 
for  doubt  as  to  the  broad  and  solid  basis  of  historical  evidence  on 
which  it  rests.  No  difficulty  was  blinked,  no  objection  left  unan- 
swered, while  the  positive  evidences  of  our  holy  religion  were  set 
forth  with  a  clearness  and  force  of  logic  perfectly  overwhelming, 
the  whole  effect  being  incalculably  heightened  by  the  enthusiasm  of 
personal  conviction  with  which  all  his  arguments  seemed  to  glow. 

"Having  referred  to  Dr.  Sparrow  as  a  teacher,  it  would  be 
improper  to  leave  the  subject  without  mention  of  that  trait  which, 
more  than  any  other,  characterized  him  as  such — his  absolute 
deference  to  the  Bible,  and  the  Bible  alone,  as  the  infallible  author- 
ity on  religious  questions.  He  fully  appreciated  the  value  of  the 
ancient  creeds  and  modern  confessions  of  faith,  and  of  much  that 
has  come  down  to  us  from  the  fathers  and  reformers,  as  valuable 
testimonies  to  the  fundamental  truths  of  our  religion,  and  gave  them, 
as  such,  a  prominent  place  in  his  teaching.  But  he  ever  taught 
that  our  faith  does  not  rest  in  these  as  ultimate  authorities,  but 
only  as  they  are  supported  by  the  Word.  The  creed  of  the  Church, 
according  to  a  favorite  illustration  of  his,  is  a  convenience,  like  the 
weights  and  measures  used  in  commerce,  and  like  them,  in  its 
proper  place,  is  indispensable.  Yet  like  them,  also,  it  is  not  an  ulti- 


140  MEMOIR    OF 

mate  authority,  but  in  case  of  any  dispute,  is  itself  to  be  referred 
to  an  ulterior  standard,  fixed  by  law.  It  is,  he  would  say,  not  a 
mensura  mensurans  but  a  mensura  mensurata.  His  very  distinct 
views  on  this  subject,  leading  him,  as  they  did,  to  question  and  reject 
certain  so-called  Church  doctrines,  which  rest,  as  he  conceived, 
rather  on  ecclesiastical  tradition  than  on  Scripture,  and  which  are 
not  in  the  creeds,  gave  occasion  to  some,  to  whom  these  things  seem 
to  be  of  the  very  essence  of  the  faith,  to  call  him  a  rationalist.  But 
no  charge  could  be  more  unjust  and  misplaced.  A  rationalist,  in 
the  proper  sense  of  the  word,  is  one  who  subjects  Scripture  to  the 
test  of  his  own  reason,  rejecting  freely  its  acknowledged  teachings 
when  not  in  accordance  with  what  he  calls  the  light  that  is  in  him. 
But  while  Dr.  Sparrow  recognized  it  as  within  the  province  of 
reason,  enlightened  by  the  grace  of  God,  to  determine  what  is,  and 
what  is  not  the  teaching  of  Scripture ;  this  once  ascertained,  no  one 
bowed  with  more  absolute  submission  to  its  deepest  mysteries  than 
he.  And  such  was  the  childlike  spirit  of  his  faith  in  the  pure  word 
of  God,  that  I  do  not  believe  he  would  have  hesitated  to  have 
abandoned  the  most  cherished  convictions  of  his  life,  had  their 
incompatibility  with  the  word  of  God  been  made  to  appear  to  him. 
Surely  there  was  nothing  in  common  with  the  rationalism  of  the 
day  in  such  a  spirit  as  this. 

"Shortly  after  I  entered  the  Seminary,  there  occurred  an  incident 
which  may  be  worth  mentioning,  as  illustrating  a  point  in  the 
Doctor's  character,  and  the  type  of  personal  religion  which  he 
exemplified. 

"A  number  of  the  students  of  the  Seminary  were  invited  to  an 
evening  entertainment,  given  by  a  family  in  the  neighborhood,  well 
reported  of  for  religious  consistency.  Quite  unexpectedly,  so  far 
as  the  students  were  concerned,  shortly  after  the  assembling  of  the 
company,  music  struck  up,  and  the  young  people  began  to  dance. 
The  dancing  did  not  last  very  long,  and  none  of  the  students  took  part 
in  it.  But  the  incident  was  the  subject  of  deep  regret  to  Dr. 
Sparrow.  Possibly,  he  did  not  know  how  entirely  innocent  these 
young  men  were  of  the  intention  of  being  at  a  dancing  party. 
But  whether  he  knew  this  or  not,  it  pained  him  to  think  what  might 
be  the  effect  of  the  reports  going  abroad,  probably  without  explana- 
tion, that  these  young  candidates  for  sacred  orders  had  mingled  in 
the  frivolous  scenes  of  the  ball  room.  He  made  the  incident  the 
occasion  for  preaching  a  sermon  on  Christian  consistency,  appealing 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  141 

especially  to  those  who  were  to  be  standard  bearers  in  the  Lord's 
host  to  keep  themselves  pure,  and  without  reproach,  as  regards 
such  things,  which,  if  not  sinful,  were  at  least  doubtful  in  their 
character. 

"To  some,  this  incident  may  seem  to  imply  a  narrowness  of 
mind,  quite  out  of  keeping  with  his  reputation  as  a  great  theolo- 
gian. It  may  be  said,  however,  in  defence  of  him  on  this  point,  if 
he  needs  any,  that  at  that  time  the  Church  had  not  come  to  so 
entire  an  agreement  with  the  world  as  to  the  innocence  of  such 
amusements,  as  it  seems  to  have  done  in  these  days,  and  even  a 
great  man  may  be  excused  for  taking  up,  to  some  extent,  with  the 
prejudices  of  his  day.  And  then,  perhaps,  after  all,  there  is  room 
to  doubt  whether  the  ideas  which  rule  on  these  points  in  modern 
days  are  truer  and  better  than  the  old;  whether  those  who  look 
with  jealousy  upon  the  influence  of  fashionable  amusements  upon 
the  young,  or  those  who  take  it  for  a  settled  maxim  that  the 
amusements  of  young  people  must  needs  be  innocent,  or  at  any 
rate,  are  not  the  proper  subject  for  the  interference  of  the  Church, 
take  the  broader  view — the  view  which,  in  the  long  run,  will  prove 
the  truer — the  one  most  for  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  good  of  men. 
At  all  events,  it  is  certain,  that  if  this  jealousy  of  the  influence  of 
such  amusements  is  narrowness,  it  is  a  narrowness  fully  shared  in 
by  the  primitive  Church,  as  shown  by  the  numerous  and  stringent 
canons  enacted  in  those  days  against  dancing,  theatrical  shows,  and 
the  like.  But  whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  judgment  displayed 
by  Dr.  Sparrow  in  this  incident,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
spirit  by  which  he  was  actuated  was  that  of  Elijah,  when  it  was 
said  of  him  that  he  was  very  jealous  for  the  Lord  God  of  Hosts. 

"  And  I  may  here  remark,  as  a  suitable  close  to  this  sketch  that, 
after  all,  the  crowning  glory  of  Dr.  Sparrow's  character  was  his 
deep  and  ardent  piety.  Those  who  only  saw  him  at  a  distance,  and 
only  knew  him  in  his  public  character,  may  have  been  most 
impressed  by  his  intellectual  power ;  but  what  most  impressed  those 
who  came  in  close  contact  with  him,  was  the  deep-toned  spirituality 
of  his  mind.  This  was  the  secret  of  the  almost  magic  power  by 
which  he  used  to  hold  us  all  spell-bound,  in  his  Thursday  night 
talks  at  the  Faculty  meetings.  These  were  the  simple  outpourings 
of  his  heart  before  his  fellow  Christians  of  the  Seminary,  in 
personal  religion.  Without  reserve,  and  without  egotism,  the  rich 
results  of  the  Lord's  dealings  with  his  own  soul  would  be  laid 


142  MEMOIK    OF 

before  us,  for  our  profit,  and  his  must  indeed  have  been  a  cold 
nature  whose  heart  would  not  often  burn  within  him,  while  he 
talked  of  these  things.  Many  would  retire  after  these  wonderful 
discourses  to  their  rooms,  to  meditate  and  pray,  and  to  form  new 
purposes  to  live  more  for  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  good  of  men, 
and  eternity  alone  will  disclose  the  full  results  of  the  good  impulses, 
by  God's  grace  imparted  to  so  many  candidates  for  the  ministry, 
on  these  blessed  occasions." 

The  correspondence  following,  included  in  this  period,  will  throw 
light  upon  parts  of  it  not  brought  out  in  the  narrative.  The  larger 
portion  consists  of  letters  to  Dr.  Wing.  The  rest  are  to  other 
friends,  and  with  one  exception,  to  pupils  in  the  ministry.  It  is  to 
be  regretted  that  more  of  these  could  not  be  obtained.  His  corres- 
pondence with  Bishop  Meade,  for  instance,  would  have  been  specially 
valuable,  but  was,  in  all  probability,  destroyed  during  the  war.  As 
illustrative  of  many  features  of  his  character,  both  as  to  mind  and 
heart,  those  here  given  will  well  repay  perusal.  That  peculiar 
charm  of  his  intercourse  in  social  life,  which  lighted  up  everything 
by  his  presence,  his  geniality,  ever  full  of  cheerful  suggestion,  but 
never  giving  pain  or  producing  bitterness,  will  be  recognized  on 
every  page.  His  deep  interest  in  certain  great  issues  in  the  Church 
then  pending,  as  also  in  the  ministerial  success  of  his  pupils,  will  be 
no  less  clearly  manifest.  These  letters  also  contain  an  indication 
as  to  the  mode  in  which  influence  exerted  upon  his  pupils  during 
their  Theological  course,  was  perpetuated  in  their  subsequent  career 
of  ministerial  exertion. 

"  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  FAIRFAX  COUNTY,  VA., 

"July  15th,  1841. 
"DEAR  BROTHER: — 

"I  should  have  written  you  by  Mr.  E.,  but  that  you  possess  the 
privilege  of  a  Congressman,  and  it  was,  withal,  very  inconvenient  to 
me  at  the  time  of  his  departure.  Examination  was  coming  on,  and 
my  heart  was  in  my  mouth ;  it  is  now  over,  however,  and  my  heart 
has  got  back  to  its  proper  place,  and,  therefore,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  I  write  to  you.  But  I  am  urged,  also,  by  Mrs.  Sparrow, 
who  wishes  the  enclosed  letter  sent  to  Mrs.  Wing.  She  would 
have  sent  it  directly  had  she  known  where  to  direct  it.  That  Mrs. 
Sparrow  should  write  her  at  all,  these  times,  I  regard  pretty  good 
evidence  of  a  strong  friendship.  She  suffers  excessively  from  the 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,    D.  D.  143 

heat  here,  and  that,  together  with  her  domestic  cares  and  other 
things,  makes  it  hard  for  her  to  get  through  her  necessary  duties. 
She  talks  much  of  Mrs.  Wing,  and  will  be  much  disappointed  if 
she  does  not  see  her  here. 

"We  have  just  got  through  the  examination,  and  though  Dr. 
Keith  was  absent,  on  account  of  health,  and  it,  therefore,  lost  much 
of  its  interest,  so  far  as  it  went,  it  passed  off  very  well.  As  to  your 
humble  servant's  part  of  the  performance,  I  can't  say  much.  I 
hated  Mosheim  and  all  his  tribe,  at  the  outset,  and  do  not  love  him 
now.  But  after  a  severe  struggle  against  it,  my  mind  has  con- 
sented to  try  and  master  him.  I  began  modestly,  when  I  took 
charge  of  the  class,  confessing  my  sins  of  omission  and  disqualifica- 
tion, and  that  made  them  moderate  their  expectations.  The  conse- 
quence has  been,  I  hope,  that  when  the  session  closed  they  were 
not  dissatisfied.  I  say  this  to  you,  because  I  know  (as  I  suppose), 
that  you  sympathized  with  me  in  my  anxieties  on  this  head.  Alto- 
gether, I  think  I  have  been  appreciated  far  above  my  deserts  since 
I  came  here.  I  think  it  does  not  puff  me  up.  I  hope  it  will  make 
me  thankful  to  God  that  He  has  turned  away  my  fears  in  some 
measure.  My  duties  thus  far  have  been  very  light — but  four  reci- 
tations per  week,  two  in  the  Seminary  and  two  in  the  High-school. 
I  shall  propose  to  do  more,  even  if  they  do  not  put  more  on  me,  the 
next  term. 

"The  Convention  in  Alexandria  was  a  glorious  thing.  Although 
not  as  much  religious  feeling  as  usual,  there  was  a  good  deal  of 
seriousness,  and  the  very  best  spirit  prevailed.  It  detracted,  how- 
ever, very  much  from  our  examination.  Having  been  here  so 
recently,  the  clergy  and  laity,  who  usually  attend  the  Convention  in 
great  numbers,  were  unwilling  to  come  again. 

"We  have  now  at  the  Seminary  two  foreign  missionaries,  Hill 
and  Payne.  Mr.  Payne  delivered  an  address  yesterday.  Mr.  Hill 
will  do  the  same  this  afternoon.  To-morrow  I  go  on  to  Fredericks- 
burg,  to  preach  on  next  Sunday  at  the  ordination  of  several  deacons 
and  some  priests.  I  regret  my  consenting  to  go,  but  it  is  now  too 
late.  My  regret  is  chiefly  that  I  have  not  been  able  to  write  for 
the  occasion. 

"  While  I  am  away,  Mrs.  Sparrow  and  the  children  are  going  to 
take  charge  of  the  Seminary  buildings,  for  the  vacation.  This  is  a 
delightful  arrangement.  There  will  be  no  limit,  of  course,  to  our 
room,  or  rather  our  rooms ;  and  we  shall  board  at  the  Seminary 


144  MEMOIR    OF 

table,  the  trustees  and  the  matron,  a  most  excellent  lady,  consenting 
to  the  arrangement.  Our  house  is  now  plastering,  and  will  be 
finished  in  a  few  weeks;  but  we  think  it  safest  not  to  go  into  it  till 
October.  In  truth,  I  should  be  perfectly  willing  to  remain  an 
indefinite  time  at  the  Seminary,  if  we  could  have  it  all  to  ourselves, 
and  Miss  M.  to  superintend  for  us,  or  her  servants  to  take  care 
of  us.  They  have  adopted  my  plan  of  the  house,  or  rather  yours, 
just  as  it  was  furnished.  My  only  regret  is  that  we  did  not  furnish 
a  larger  plan.  They  were  quite  ready  to  make  it  larger;  have 
already  taken  down  the  end  of  the  kitchen,  and  enlarged  it  several 
feet.  In  short,  they  have  done  all,  and  more  than  all,  I  expected. 
I  mention  these  things  to  you,  because,  if  you  were  in  my  situation, 
and  I  in  yours,  I  should  be  glad  to  hear  them. 

"  I  was  rather  thrown  aback  by  your  declaration  of  readiness  to 
receive,  and  reluctance  to  answer  my  letters.  If  you  have  a 
disinclination  for  such  work,  I  hope  you  will  overcome  it  in  the 
present  instance,  and  especially  while  Mrs.  W.  is  absent.  It  will 
beguile  a  lonely  hour.  But  however  remiss  you  are  determined  to 
be  in  time  to  come,  write  me  on  the  receipt  of  this,  and  let  me  know 
all  about  yourself,  your  family,  and  Gambier.  Eemember  me 
kindly  to  old  friends.  Often  do  I  think  of  them,  and  always  with 
affection  and  sadness.  I  shall  write  several  of  them  on  my  return 
from  Fredericksburg.  Mrs.  S.  joins  me  in  best  wishes. 

"Your  true  friend  and  brother,         WILLIAM  SPAEEOW. 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINAEY,  FAIEFAX  COUNTY,  VA. 

"  September  1st,  1841. 
"  KEV.  AND  DEAE  SIE  : — 

"Last  evening  I  went  into  Alexandria,  spent  the  night  at  a 
friend's  house,  went  thence  by  the  nine  o'clock  boat  to  Washington, 
and  spent  the  day  in  the  Senate  chamber,  listening  to  Berrien, 
Hives,  Clay,  etc.,  till  about  three.  By  the  four  o'clock  boat  I 
returned  to  Alexandria,  came  out  in  Mr.  L.'s  carriage  to  the 
Seminary,  about  seven — and  what  then?  Why,  to  my  surprise 
and  delight,  I  found  Mrs.  W.  had  been  here  nearly  all  day.  She 
had  had  rather  a  troublesome  time  in  getting  here,  and  is  rather 
tired  to-night;  not  so  much,  however,  as  to  prevent  her  sitting  and 
talking  with  Mrs.  S.  But  about  her  health  she  will  write  you  in  a 
few  days.  In  the  meanwhile,  I  write  to  let  you  know  she  is  here, 
and  that  we  mean  to  keep  her  here  over  next  week. 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  145 

"  I  thank  you  for  your  last  letter,  though  rather  too  brief.  It 
seems  to  me  you  make  too  much  of  a  business  of  writing  a  letter.  If 
you  would  scribble  anything  that  comes  uppermost,  it  would  be 
very  acceptable  to  your  old,  and  now  distant,  friend,  and  far  better 
than  your  hypercritical  and  over  nice  taste  would  suppose.  Don't 
expect  of  me,  I  pray  you,  nicely  rounded  periods  and  terse  and 
pregnant  thoughts  (though  I  do  listen,  now  and  again,  to  the 
magnates  of  the  land,  in  high  debate),  and  do  not  suppose,  there- 
fore, that  I  expect  them  of  you.  But  I  do  expect  that,  with  all 
your  cares,  you  will  not  forget  your  old,  and  one  of  your  truest 
and  most  cordial,  friends,  almost  a  brother. 

"  I  have  had  a  letter  from  P.,  full  of  tenderness  and  Christian 
submission.  He  says,  in  his  strong  way,  that  '  he  is  crushed  like 
a  worm' — strong,  yet  no  stronger,  I  am  persuaded,  than  he  feels. 
Every  time  his  eyes  rest  upon  his  children,  I  have  no  doubt,  he 
feels  an  anguish  which  tries  both  his  Christian  fortitude  and  resig- 
nation. Since  I  heard  from  him  I  have  had  a  letter  from  A.  He 
says  P.  is  doing  exceedingly  well,  and  that  his  labors  are  much 
blessed.  From  A.  I  have  not  heard.  Have  you  ?  I  hope  he  is 
doing  well.  He  is  a  true  man.  The  news  here  I  shall  not  attempt 
to  give  you ;  the  papers  will  do  it  much  better.  There  are  great 
searchings  of  heart,  and  many  surmises  what  the  President  will  do 
with  this  second  bill.  Should  it  be  vetoed,  it  is  confidently  asserted 
the  Cabinet  will  resign,  and  Hives  and  Gushing,  etc.,  be  appointed 
in  their  places.  So  much  for  politics,  and  that  quantum  suff. 

11  Our  vacation  will  close  this  week,  and  then  I  begin  again,  after 
a  long  respite.  I  have  been  very  busy  preaching,  however ;  this 
whole  vacation  not  a  Sunday  has  passed  that  I  have  not  been  in 
the  pulpit,  at  least  once — quite  enough  for  health,  this  warm, 
weather,  I  assure  you. 

"  My  house  is  now  painting.  They  have  been  quite  expeditious. 
I  have  but  one  regret — that  I  was  so  modest  in  my  demands.  I 
have  always  regretted  that  there  was  not  more  brass  in  my  consti- 
tution. As  to  you,  your  regret  should  be  that  there  is  none  at  all 
in  yours.  No  bell  ever  sounded  well,  and  afar  off,  without  it. 

"  Write  me  soon,  and  tell  me  all  the  news.  Do  you  know  any- 
thing of  T.,  and  his  prospects  ?  I  have  just  had  a  very  good  letter 
from  him,  but  he  has  none  of  my  egotism,  and,  therefore,  tells  me 
but  little.  My  best  regards  to  all  my  Gambier  friends.  My  friend 
10 


146  MEMOIE    OP 

B.  I  must  especially  name  at  this  time.  Wish  him  much  joy  for 
me,  and,  what  in  this  world  is  more  stable,  much  happiness. 

"  Hoping  this  will  find  you  and  your  little  ones  in  good  health,  I 
remain,  dear  sir, 

"  Most  truly,  your  friend  and  brother, 

"WILLIAM  SPARROW." 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  FAIRFAX  Co.,  VA. 
"  REV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER  : — 

"Most  welcome  was  your  letter  by  Mr.  E.,  and  most  pleasing 
the  intelligence  of  your  marriage.  Conscious  that  in  a  single  life 
I  would  have  been  most  miserable,  I  have  always  been  a.  strong 
advocate  of  matrimony,  and  consequently  rejoice  when  my  friends 
are  found  entering  into  that  state;  especially  when  there  is  such  a 
good  prospect  of  happiness  as  in  your  case.  I  have  little  personal 

knowledge,  indeed,  of  Mrs. ,  but  I  know  under  what  training 

and  maternal  influence  she  was  brought  up,  and  I  have  heard 
others  speak  of  her,  who  do  know  her;  and  I  feel  myself  author- 
ized to  wish  you  much  joy,  as  I  do,  with  all  my  heart. 

"  It  must  have  been  exceedingly  pleasant  to  you  to  have  the 
presence  of  Mrs.  F.  on  the  occasion  of  your  marriage.  I  wish  I 
had  been  there  to  see  her,  as  well  as  on  many  other  accounts.  I 
hope  that  she  and  her  husband  enjoy  good  health.  How  does 
Bishop  McCoskry  come  on  in  Detroit.  I  have  heard  some  say 
that  he  is  not  so  acceptable  as  he  used  to  be,  but  I  can  hardly  think 
it.  His  open,  cordial  manner  cannot  fail  to  please  the  people  of 
the  West. 

"Your  account  of  the  improvements  in  Milnor  Hall,  and  else- 
where on  the  Hill,  is  quite  pleasing.  I  doubt  not,  if  I  should  ever 
see  the  place  again,  it  will  be  so  improved  I  shall  hardly  know  it. 
Nature,  at  the  deluge,  if  not  at  the  foundation  of  the  world,  did 
her  part  toward  making  it  a  beautiful  place ;  art  must  now  do  its 
part;  and  Major  Douglass,  every  one  knows,  is  just  the  man  to  exe- 
cute her  will. 

"What  news  from  Cincinnati?  How  come  on  our  common 
friends  there,  and  the  city  mission?  How,  also,  is  friend  G.?  I 
have  often  thought  it  had  been  well  for  him,  if  not  for  the  Church 
in  Cincinnati,  that  he  had  been  continued  in  the  office  of  city 
missionary.  If  I  had  my  will,  and  could  bring  it  about,  every 
student,  after  going  through  a  regular  course  in  a  theological  semi- 


WILLIAM    SPARED  W,    D.  D.  .       147 

nary,  should  go,  first  of  all,  and  preach  to  the  poor,  and  preach, 
not  only  from  his  pulpit,  but  from  house  to  house.  Thus  only  can 
the  unpractical  and  abstract  habits  of  a  theological  seminary  be 
broken  up,  and  the  best  style  of  preaching  the  Gospel  be  learned. 
But  I  forget  myself. 

"I  have  seen  but  very  few  of  your  Virginia  friends  here,  and 
those  few  in  such  a  transient  way,  at  the  Convention,  that  I  do  not 
remember  their  names.  All  that  I  can  recollect  is,  that  one  or  two 
inquired  most  kindly  about  you.  Col.  C.  was  not  at  the  Conven- 
tion, or  I  presume  I  should  have  more  to  say  to  you  about  such 
matters. 

"As  to  my  position  here,  it  is  much  more  agreeable,  in  every 
respect,  than  I  anticipated;  though  that  is  not  saying  much.  I 
left  Ohio  with  a  heavy  heart.  I  pray  God  never  to  put  me,  unless 
He  sees  it  necessary  to  paramount  interest,  to  such  a  trial  again. 
From  the  earthquake  of  feeling  in  my  heart — I  know  not  what  else 
to  call  it — which  my  removal  occasioned,  I  never  expect  to  recover; 
as  long  as  I  live,  there  will  be  deep  and  ruinous  traces  of  the  con- 
vulsion in  my  nature.  It  was  impossible,  therefore,  to  have  bright 
anticipations  in  removing  to  this  place.  I  left  Ohio  because  I 
thought  I  must.  To  say,  therefore,  that  my  lot  exceeds  my  expecta- 
tions, would  be  to  say  but  little.  Thank  God  I  can  say  more.  If 
my  health,  and  that  of  my  family,  is  preserved,  and  I  find  myself 
useful  and  acceptable,  I  think  I  shall  have  no  reason  to  regret  the 
change,  so  far  as  external  things  are  concerned.  But  though  I 
have  been  overwhelmed  with  kindness  on  every  hand  here,  I  cannot 
forget  the  old  and  true  maxim  about  old  books,  old  wine,  and  old 
friends,  and  shall  be  anxious  to  cultivate  the  kind  remembrance  of 
Ohio  friends,  among  whom  you  are  reckoned,  let  me  say,  one  of  the 
oldest  and  dearest.  The  thought  of  being  forgotten  by  them  would 
be  most  painful,  for  they  can  never  be  forgotten  by  me. 

"Present  me  kindly  to  Mrs. .     You  must  not  fail  to  write 

me  occasionally,  and  when  your  cares  will  not  allow  it,  ask  Mr.  B. 
to  be  your  substitute.  Most  gladly  would  I  hear  from  him  at  any 
time.  How  is  our  common  friend  0.  coming  on;  a  good  man,  and 
true. 

"  With  earnest  prayers  for  a  blessing  on  you  and  yours,  and  on 
all  your  undertakings,  I  remain,  most  truly, 

"  Your  friend  and  brother,  WILLIAM  SPARROW." 


148  MEMOIR    OF 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  FAIRFAX  Co.,  VA., 

"March  5,  1842. 
"  EEV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER  : — 

"  Knowing  that  I  might  as  well  wait  for  the  Mississippi  to  run 
by,  in  order  to  cross  over,  as  to  wait  for  an  unprovoked  epistle 
from  you,  though  you  have  the  franking  privilege,  and  plenty  of 
time  to  spare,  I  have  concluded  to  try  if  even  a  challenge  will  draw 
a  letter  from  you.  Pray,  how  are  you?  Much  more,  how  is  Mrs. 
Wing,  and  the  little  ones?  Mrs.  S.  is  constantly  saying  'I  wish 
I  knew  how  is  Mrs.  W.'  From  the  fact  that  none  of  our  recent 
letters  from  Ohio  say  anything  unfavorable  about  her  health,  we 
have  been  led  to  hope  that  it  is  good.  As  to  my  family,  they  are, 
just  now,  better  than  they  have  been  since  our  arrival  here;  though 
we  have  had  a  great  deal  of  sickness  during  the  winter.  M.,  F., 
and  E.,  have  all  been  quite  unwell.  The  boys  are  all  well  and 
hearty,  especially  the  youngest.  My  own  health  has  been  as  good 
as  usual — that  is  not  saying  much,  you  will  think — and  I  have, 
though  under  many  disadvantages,  enjoyed  myself  better  than  for 
many  winters  past. 

"Dr.  Keith,  you  are  aware,  is  in  very  bad  health!  so  that  there 
is  much  reason  to  fear  he  will  never  return  to  duty  here  again.  I 
have,  therefore,  to  do  his  duty  and  my  own,  for  the  present.  This 
has,  necessarily,  brought  with  it  much  labor  and  more  anxiety.  I 
have  been  in  continual  apprehension  that  the  students  would  be 
dissatisfied ;  but  thus  far,  thank  God,  my  fears  have  been  turned 
away  from  me ;  and  though  they  are  fully  conscious  that  Dr.  Keith 
was  a  man  not  to  be  matched  in  his  peculiar  department,  they  have 
borne  with  me,  and  shown  a  kindness,  and  forbearance,  and  confi- 
dence, which  I  did  not  expect.  The  Seminary  here  seems  to  be  in 
a  prosperous  condition,  and  if  we  only  had  a  proper  man  in  Dr. 
Keith's  place,  or  the  Lord  would  restore  him  to  us,  I  think  it 
would  grow  and  prosper  much  more.  Personally,  I  think  they  are 
a  fine  body  of  young  men  who  make  up  our  classes.  Their  talents, 
and  attainments,  and  manners,  and  spirit,  are,  for  the  most  part, 
very  good.  Some  of  them  are  very  superior  young  men.  The 
notions  which  have  prevailed  about  the  irregularity  of  things  here, 
is  certainly  a  mistake.  If  there  was  want  of  order  in  times  past, 
there  is  not  now.  The  true  want,  according  to  the  feelings  of  those 
who  complain,  is  want  of  Oxford-Tractism  in  doctrine  and  disci- 
pline, against  both  of  which  Bishop  Meade  sets  his  face,  and  is  not 


WILLIAM     SPARED  W,   D.  D.  149 

ashamed  to  avow  it.  His  trip  to  England,  of  the  effects  of  which 
I  was  fearful,  has  only  confirmed  him  more  fully  in  his  old  opinions 
of  Evangelical  doctrine,  and  moderate,  or  Low-Churchmanship. 
But  I  must  stop  this,  before  my  paper  is  used  up. 

"  The  winter  here  has  been  very  delightful,  and  the  spring  is 
very  forward.  We  have  put  out  all  fires,  except  in  the  kitchen, 
man  being,  at  all  seasons,  a  cooking  animal.  Do  write  me  soon, 
and  fully.  If  you  knew  as  much  of  this  place,  in  common  with 
me,  as  I  do  of  Ohio,  in  common  with  you,  I  should  fill  my  paper 
with  gossip.  Tell  me  all  about  Gambier,  Mount  Vernon,  Colum- 
bus, etc.,  etc.  Especially  about  you  and  yours.  What  are  you  at! 
How  do  you  fill  up  your  time !  Ah,  I  wish  you  were  here.  This 
is  the  place  to  keep  a  man  alive.  Since  I  began  this  letter  I  have 
been  visited  by  Mr.  S.,  from  Washington,  and  he  has  been  telling 
me  of  the  Temperance  doings,  till  my  blood  has  fairly  coursed 
through  my  veins  for  joy  and  sympathy.  The  reformation  of  the 
drunkards,  and  the  influence  upon  the  whole  of-  society  there,  is  very 
great  indeed.  Kemember  me,  affectionately,  to  your  family,  to  the 
Bishop,  and  Messrs.  Blake,  Badger,  and  Sandels.  Also  to  other 
friends. 

"Truly,  your  friend  and  brother,  WM.  SPARROW." 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  NEAR  ALEXANDRIA,  D.  C., 

"September  7,  1842. 
"KEY.  AND  DEAR  SIR: — 

"  It  is  customary  with  those  who  leave  their  creditors  unsatisfied, 
when  compelled,  by  the  force  of  circumstances,  to  pay  their  debts, 
to  carry  a  high  head,  as  though  they  had  done  some  great  thing ; 
they  mistake  a  discharge  of  obligation  for  a  pure  gratuity.  In 
this  way  I  explain  the  loftiness  of  the  beginning  and  ending  of 
your  last  epistle.  Perhaps,  however,  it  may  be  accounted  for,  in 
part,  by  that  paternal  pride  which  is  so  very  natural  and  excus- 
able, on  announcing  the  birth  of  a  little  daughter.  Be  that  as  it 
may,  and  whatever  we  may  think  of  the  weakness  of  the  father, 
we  cannot  but  rejoice  at  the  arrival  of  the  new  comer  and  the 
health  of  the  mother. 

"  In  regard  to  the  farm,  I  confess  I  know  not  what  to  say.  I  am 
sorely  perplexed,  and  all  my  faith  is  put  to  the  trial,  when  I  think 
of  the  situation  of  my  family,  and  my  precarious  health.  My  hope 
had  been,  that  T.  and  Mr.  M.  would  have  so  arranged  matters  that 


150  MEMOIR    OF 

the  lot  on  which  my  father  lived  would  have  been  mine,  and 
formed  an  asylum  for  my  wife  and  children,  at  my  death.  How- 
ever, as  this  plan  seems  to  be  frustrated,  I  can  only  say,  for  the 
present,  I  will  consider  the  matter.  Your  letter  has  been  lying 
on  my  table,  you  must  know,  for  a  couple  of  weeks,  during  my 
absence  at  two  Virginia  associations.  This  fact,  with  the  deep 
feeling  of  responsibility  to  my  family  which  presses  upon  me,  will 
account  for  the  postponement  of  a  categorical  answer.  I  feel 
verily  guilty  in  relation  to  my  family.  I  have  allowed  the  busi- 
ness of  my  personal  life,  teaching  and  preaching,  so  to  engross  my 
thoughts,  that  I  have  not  been  provident  for  them.  Whether 
the  evil  can  be  in  any  measure  repaired,  God  only  knows;  but 
when  I  reflect  how  destitute  they  must  be,  if  I  should  be  this 
moment  taken  from  them,  a  perfect  horror  comes  over  my  mind, 
not  only  at  the  idea  of  their  sinking  into  poverty,  but  also,  because 
I  cannot  acquit  myself  of  being,  in  some  measure,  passively,  if  not 
actively,  the  cause  'of  their  misfortune.  Had  I  bestowed  upon 
them  some  of  the  thoughts  which  my  classes  have  occupied,  it 
would  have  been  better  for  me  and  mine.  But  enough  of  this. 

"  I  have  seen  Mr.  B.     Mr.  U.  is  teaching  in  this  neighborhood. 
M.  dined  with  me  yesterday.     Yes,  even  our  friend !     He  is  to  be 

married  on  Saturday,  to  a  Miss ,  the  sister  of  his  first  wife, 

I  suppose.  I  did  not  like  to  ask  the  question,  having  the  fear  of 
the  General  Assembly  before  my  eyes.  I  see,  from  the  papers,  the 
Bishop  is  going  to  Cincinnati;  and  I  perceive  the  Doctor  has 
resumed  the  'Observer/  and  'fears  no  man.'  In  regard  to  An- 
drews, his  letters  from  Europe  pleased  me  better  than  any  I  have 
read  from  clerical  pens.  He  is  a  sound  theologian.  All  the  family 
join  with  me  in  kind  remembrance  to  yours. 

"Yours  most  truly,  W.  SPARROW." 


"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  January  25,  1843. 
"  KEV.  AND  DEAR  SIR  : — 

"  I  have  been  diligently  seeking  a  moment  of  leisure  from  press- 
ing duties,  to  write  you.  I  do  not  know  that  I  ever  was  more 
occupied  than  at  the  present  time.  I  am  acting  as  temporary  sup- 
ply at  Christ  Church,  Georgetown,  and  that  occupies  a  part  of 
Saturday  and  Monday,  as  well  as  Sunday;  and  the  rest  of  the 
week  I  am  kept  in  the  full  jump,  to  fulfill  all  my  duties  to  my 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,    D.  D.  151 

family,  the  Seminary,  and  myself.  I  know  not  that  I  should  be 
writing  you  just  now,  but  I  am  impelled  by  the  sad  news  which  I 
have  just  heard,  of  the  burning  of  your  house;  and  also,  by  a 
desire  to  make  an  inquiry  of  you.  I  hope  it  is  true,  as  I  hear,  that 
your  house  is  insured,  and  that  to  the  full  value  of  it.  Should 
such  be  the  case,  the  affliction,  I  should  suppose,  will  rather  fall 
upon  the  company  than  upon  yourself.  Is  it  true  that  Mr.  L.  has 
lost  all  his  furniture?  Were  they  keeping  a  boarding  house?  How 
did  it  happen? 

"  It  seems  the  Bishop  is  sent  a  begging.  I  think  it  the  wisest 
course  they  could  possibly  pursue,  not  only  because  I  trust  he 
will  succeed,  but  because,  even  if  he  do  not,  it  will  take  away 
objections  that  were  made  against  him  at  his  election.  Will  he 
come  this  way?  If  he  should,  how  ought  I  to  carry  myself?  I 
am  disposed  to  meet  him  with  all  cordiality.  Certainly,  I  feel 
most  kindly  towards  him;  and  had  I  been  left  under  the  impression 
produced  by  our  parting,  I  should  never  have  had  one  more  unpleas- 
ant thought  in  regard  to  him.  But  several  little  matters  have 
reached  here  since,  which  make  me  doubt  whether  he  would  not 
repulse  me,  in  a  manner  which  I  would  neither  like  nor  deserve. 
As  to  his  object,  I  feel  truly  interested  in  it.  Neither  toward  him 
nor  Kenyon  can  I  ever  have  a  cold  heart. 

"As  to  yourself,  I  trust  that  the  gloom  under  which  you  last 
wrote  was  only  temporary,  and  that  by  this  time  you  see  things  in 
a  more  cheerful  light.  Alas,  dear  brother,  how  vain  are  the 
expectations  of  youth !  How  certain  that  man  is  born  to  trouble ! 
May  the  Lord  sanctify  to  us  every  sad  feeling,  and  prepare  us,  for 
our  change.  0,  what  a  glorious  thought  is  that,  there  is,  indeed, 
a  land  where  there  is  no  more  sorrow,  or  sickness,  or  death.  0 
that  we  could  have  a  full  assurance  of  our  inheritance  therein ! 

"  As  to  myself,  I  am  as  happy  as  I  ever  expect  to  be  in  this 
world.  There  is,  indeed,  nothing  very  special  to  trouble  me,  but  the 
largeness  and  helplessness  of  my  family.  When  seated  at  our  large 
family  table,  with  four  children  on  each  side,  and  Mrs.  Sparrow  at 
the  end,  and  I  think  that  my  death  must  plunge  them  into  poverty, 
I  feel  a  pang  which  nothing  but  the  promises  of  God  can,  in  the 
smallest  degree,  abate;  and  these  are  comparatively  ineffectual,  by 
reason  of  my  little  faith.  With  this  exception  (enough  of  itself, 
you  will  think),  my  situation  is  pleasant.  There  has  been  no 
change  for  the  worse  since  I  came.  More  than  all  my  expectations 


152  MEMOIR,    OF 

have  been  realized.  Friends  continue  friends,  and  as  yet,  I  believe, 
I  have  no.  enemies,  except  the  enemy  to  my  peace,  which  haunted  me 
in  Gambier,  and  everywhere  else  where  I  have  been,  and  will,  doubt- 
less, follow  me  to  the  grave.  If  I  could  see  a  prospect  of  the  con- 
tinuance of  their  present  lot  to  my  wife  and  children,  I  should  have 
so  many  blessings,  that  it  would  almost  be  wicked  to  ask  for  more. 
"What  do  you  think,  and  what  does  the  Bishop  think  of  the 
signs  of  the  times  in  the  Ecclesiastical  world?  I  am  charmed  with 

Bishop 's  last  movement.    He  goes  so  beautifully  '  in  a  gang 

by  himself,'  with  so  much  Low-Church  facing  to  his  coat  lappels, 
collar,  and  cuffs !  What  sort  is  your  Chillicothe  editor  ?  Remem- 
ber  me  most  affectionately  to  Gambier  friends. 

"Your  old,  true  friend,  WILLIAM  SPARROW." 


"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  FAIRFAX  COUNTY,  VA., 

"July  14,  1843. 
"REV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER: — 

"  I  received  your  letter  the  day  before  yesterday,  when  hard  at 
work  at  our  examination ;  yesterday  I  was  occupied  every  moment, 
with  sundry  urgent  matters,  among  the  rest,  delivering  an  address, 
of  an  hour  and  a  quarter  in  length,  before  two  Bishops,  one  Bishop 
elect,  and  I  do  not  know  how  many  clergy  and  laity;  of  course,  I 
could  not  condescend  to  think  of  a  far-off  Ohio  friend ;  to-day,  how- 
ever, as  the  bells  are  ringing  half-past  six,  A.M.,  at  the  Seminary 
and  High-School,  I  sit  down  to  answer  you. 

"  I  was  right  glad  to  hear  from  you,  though  it  was  after  your 
own  brief  fashion.  It  really  does  seem  to  me  that  you  forget  that 
I  know  all  the  persons  and  things  about  Gambier,  and  therefore 
must  needs  expect  you  to  enter  into  particulars,  which  I,  when 
addressing  you,  cannot.  If  you  were  acquainted  here,  as  I  am 
there,  I  think  I  should  write  to  you,  not  only  as  I  think,  but  as  I 
talk,  too — freely,  minutely,  and  frequently. 

"As  to  your  paper,  if  the  effect  of  it  is  to  keep  out  the  'Banner,' 
I  wish  it  God-speed.  That  paper  is  doing  the  good  cause  much 
harm,  especially  in  driving  out  the  'Episcopal  Recorder.'  The 
'Recorder,'  it  is,  that  has  fought  the  battle;  and  however  it  may 
fare  with  other  papers,  that  ought  to  be  sustained.  As  to  your's, 
I  wish  to  be  put  down  as  a  subscriber,  and,  if  you  desire  it,  as  an 
agent  at  this  place.  Lathbury's  '  Episcopacy '  I  have  not  read, 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  153 

and,  therefore,  can  give  no  advice.  I  will  ask  Dr.  May  if  he  has 
read  it,  and  if  I  have  anything,  will  add  it  before  I  send  this  letter. 
I  hope  it  is  not  High-Church.  I  think  Evangelical  men  must  see, 
from  the  experience  of  the  last  ten  years,  that  Evangelical  and 
High-Church  principles  do  not  agree;  and  that,  though  'paired,' 
sometimes,  they  are  never  'matched.' 

"  Bishop  Mcllvaine  is  expected  to  be  here  to-day.  I  have  twice 
asked  you  what  kind  of  greeting  I  might  expect  of  him,  but  you 
have  never  answered  me;  and,  therefore,  I  infer  it  will  be  exceed- 
ingly cold  and  icy.  However,  I  shall  meet  him  in  another  spirit,  and 
if  he  does  not  reciprocate,  I  cannot  help  it.  I  wish  he  had  been 
here  yesterday,  at  the  delivery  of  my  address,  that  I  might  have 
his  judgment  upon  it.  Immediately  after  I  delivered  it,  they  had 
a  meeting,  subscribed  and  paid  down  the  money  to  print,  and 
requested  of  me  a  copy.  What  to  do  I  know  not,  and  my  per- 
plexity is  most  painful.  You  know  my  repugnance  to  publishing; 
and  there  is  the  additional  consideration,  that  the  New  York 
'Churchman,'  the  'Banner,'  and  our  neighbor,  the  'True  Catholic/ 
will  come  upon  me,  like  the  Harpies  on  the  Trojan  viands,  and  that 
is  something  which  I  have  not  nerves  to  endure.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  Bishop  and  other  friends  here  say,  it  is  out  of  the  ques- 
tion, I  must  print;  and,  besides,  the  money  has  been  paid  down  for 
the  expense,  and  the  givers  are  all  dispersed.  It  is,  of  course, 
gratifying  to  my  self-love,  and  tempting  to  my  vanity,  to  be  thus 
solicited;  all  the  circumstances,  indeed,  were  most  gratifying;  but, 
after  all,  my  heart  falters,  as  if  I  were  going  to  the  stake.  The 
pleasure  is  so  balanced  by  the  pain,  that  I  think  if  I  could  know 
really  what  is  my  duty  in  reference  to  myself,  and  the  cause  of 
truth,  I  would  be  able  to  decide ;  but  there  I  am  perplexed.  I  do 
not  feel  that  the  production  has  the  strength  necessary  in  one 
which  would  promote  the  cause  of  truth,  in  these  troublous  times. 

"To  Ohio  I  cannot  goat  this  time,  or  I  should,  with  great  pleas- 
ure. Where  are  you  going  to  visit  this  vacation  ?  S.,  it  is  said, 
may  be  here  with  Bishop  Mcllvaine.  You  have  heard  that  his 
pocket  was  robbed  of  a  hundred  dollars,  received  for  his  Church, 
as  he  was  witnessing  the  great  doings  in  Boston. 

"  Doctor  is  a  queer  man ;  that  is  all,  just  now.  I  hope  F.  will 
prove  a  thorough,  Evangelical,  Low-Churchman.  As  to  yourself, 
pray,  where  do  you  stand  now  ?  How  many  rounds  of  the  ladder  ? 
At  the  top,  and  feeling  out  for  more  ?  These  inquiries  should  recur 


154  MEMOIR    Of 

often  in  these  days  of  change.  If  you  are  in  statu  quo  ante  bel- 
lum,  I  hope  you  will  not  fail  to  exert  your  influence  in  the  Semi- 
nary. Do  speak  out.  You  need  not  involve  yourself  in  controversy, 
but  do  speak  out,  clearly  and  plainly.  See  how  things  are  going 
in  New  York. 

"We  have  all  enjoyed  usual  health  this  summer,  thank  God,  not 
excepting  myself.  I  suffer  much,  as  usual,  in  my  head;  less, 
indeed,  in  the  way  of  pain,  but  a  good  deal  in  the  way  of  pressure 
on  the  brain,  and,  of  course,  great  stupor.  If  you  knew  how  I 
feel  at  this  moment,  you  would  give  me  credit  for  writing  you. 
Since  Monday  morning  we  have  been  busy  at  examination,  and  the 
doings  were  wound  up  by  my  long-winded  speech  yesterday;  and 
this  morning,  Friday,  I  am  utterly  collapsed.  In  such  a  state  you 
cannot  possibly  expect  me  to  promise  a  contribution  for  your 
paper.  What,  indeed,  could  I  write  about,  and  if  I  did,  where 
would  you  find  room  for  it  ?  Lathbury's  '  Episcopacy,'  and  Episco- 
pal appointments  and  acts,  will  leave  no  room  for  even  a  Tom 
Thumb  essay.  All  my  family  join  in  affectionate  regards  to  Mrs. 
W.,  and  your  family.  Do  not  let  my  god-son  forget  me. 
"Your  friend  and  brother,  most  truly, 

"WILLIAM  SPAEEOW." 


"  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINAEY,  FAIEFAX  Co.,  VA., 

"December  4,  1843. 
"  REV.  AND  DEAE  BEOTHEE  : — 

"I  have  just  received  your  letter,  and  as  it  is  more  like  a  friendly 
communication  than  any  I  have  been  favored  with  for  a  long  while, 
I  will  overlook  the  severe  reproof  with  which  it  begins,  and  in  the 
spirit  of  charity,  answer  you  at  once. 

"  In  regard  to  your  paper,  let  me  say,  I  am  glad  to  hear  so  much 
of  the  editorial  has  been  written  by  yourself;  for,  to  speak  the 
truth,  without  fear  or  favor,  I  have  been,  generally,  very  much 
pleased.  I  did  not  give  you  credit  for  so  much.  I  knew,  from  old 
experience,  that  nothing  you  wrote  would  be  worthless  or  common- 
place, but  I  did  not  suppose  that  you  could  muster  resolution  to  be 
so  busy  in  such  work ;  your  old  dislike  to  writing,  I  supposed,  you 
could  not  so  far  overcome.  I  say  this  in  truth;  and  in  the  same 
spirit,  let  me  express  the  hope  that  you  will  not  be  swift  to  speak 
to  others  for  help  in  the  editorial  columns.  Unless  driven  by  the 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,  D.,  D.  155 

heavy  pressure  of  other  duties,  you  had  better  stand  in  your  lot, 
and  play  the  editor  all  out.  These  are  times  when  the  helm  should 
be  only  in  the  safest  hands.  Let  me  add,  that  one  principal  object 
of  an  editor,  these  times,  should  be  to  recognize — silently,  and  by 
implication,  is  the  best  way,  perhaps,  in  most  cases — the  existence 
of  the  Protestant  churches  besides  our  own,  and  so  habituate  the 
minds  of  readers  to  liberal  views.  The  prevailing  attraction  for 
Eome,  and  repulsion  from  Protestants  who  are  non-episcopal,  needs 
to  be  checked,  and  as  Providence  has  put  it  into  your  hands  to  do 
something  in  that  way,  do  not  let  the  opportunity  slip. 

"  I  take  it  for  granted  that  you  stand  where  you  did  when  we 
used  to  hold  daily  converse  upon  Church  matters.  As  to  myself,  I 
have  not  varied  a  hair's  breadth,  that  I  am  aware  of,  except  it  be 
that  I  am  more  'established,  strengthened,  and  settled,'  in  the 
godly  ways  of  Low-Churchism.  On  the  subject  of  the  Apostolical 
Succession  I  am  clearer  than  ever;  and  I  do  not  think  that  a  man 
can,  logically,  and  consistently,  hold  to  that  as  an  essential  of  a 
valid  ministry,  and  maintain  true  Protestant  principles.  That  was 
the  xou  ffrca  on  which  the  Tractarians  planted  their  lever,  in  the 
first  numbers  of  their  series,  and  by  which  they  have  been  enabled 
to  move  the  Church,  as  with  an  earthquake.  And  so  long  as  a 
man,  or  a  Church,  holds  to  it,  he  is  liable,  or  it  is  liable,  to  go  off 
in  a  Komish  tangent,  further  and  further,  till  met  by  the  secant  of 
Romish  infallibility. 

"  What  you  tell  me  of  the  college  and  its  affairs  is  no  news.  I 
have  heard  from  several  of  its  dwindled  condition,  of  the  unpopu- 
larity of  its  president,  of  his  opposition  to  the  Bishop,  and  his 
leanings  toward  Tractarianism.  These  things  have  surprised  me 
much,  for  I  did  not  see  how,  under  the  new  order  of  things,  any 
other  than  personal  difficulties  could  arise.  I  believe  it  will  be 
found,  that  the  less  bishops  have  to  do  with  any  other  than  purely 
ministerial)  or  purely  Episcopal  matters,  the  better  for  the  Church. 
Bishop  White  seems  to  have  seen  this.  The  truth  is,  the  bishops  are 
so  peerless  in  the  Church,  that  when  they  pass  over  into  the  world 
for  the  transactions  of  business,  they,  from  mere  habit,  if  from 
nothing  else,  are  disposed  to  carry  this  characteristic  with  them, 
and  some  are  disposed,  from  feelings  correlate,  to  accede  to  them  at 
once,  and  without  the  exercise  of  judgment;  but  though  some,  not 
all,  and  these  last  create  the  difficulty,  often  with  reason,  often 


156  MEMO  IB    OP 

without  it.     Had  my  situation  been  that  of  the  present  incumbent, 
I  should  have  been  there  still. 

"  I  have  but  one  great  anxiety  about  Gambier,  and  that  centres  in 
my  theological  successor.  I  have  no  doubt  that  he  is  a  good  man, 
and  orthodox.  Is  he  so  decidedly  Evangelical,  and  Low-Church — you 
see  I  do  not  mince  matters — that  the  clergy  he  will  send  forth  from 
the  Seminary  will  choose  a  worthy  successor  to  Bishop  Mcllvaine  ? 
That  is  the  question.  When  you  can  assure  me  of  that,  you  will 
relieve  me  much.  The  other  side  of  our  Church  direct  all  their 
energies  toward  providing  for  the  succession.  The  Bishop  is  de 
facto,  the  Church ;  for  he  can  make  it  what  he  pleases,  always  ex- 
cepting what  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  Devil  may  do  to  prevent 
it.  In  some  cases,  I  fear,  these  conspiring  principles  are  not  called 
upon  to  prevent;  all  they  have  to  do  is  to  aid.  Witness  much  in  the 
history  of  our  Church  during  the  last  few  years. 

"You  ask  my  opinion  about  Ohio  affairs.  But  the  subject  is 
long,  and  my  paper  is  short;  and  I  really  am  not  sure  whether  or 
not  I  have  a  matured  opinion  upon  the  subject. 

"  We  are  here  getting  along,  through  the  Divine  blessing,  pretty 
well.  My  labor  is  lighter  than  it  ever  has  been  elsewhere.  I  have 
but  seven  recitations  a  week.  But  they  are  enough  for  my  feeble- 
ness, especially  as  a  class  of  twenty,  some  of  them  quondam 
lawyers,  doctors,  merchants,  etc.,  tax  a  man  much  more  severely, 
than  our  little  Gambier  tete-a-tetes.  For  a  nervous  man,  it  is 
pretty  hard  to  sit  up  in  a  chair  and  be  shot  at  by  such  marksmen, 
for  an  hour  or  so.  Besides  teaching,  I  preach  about  once  a  Sunday, 
in  the  Seminary  chapel,  or  elsewhere.  These  things,  with  my  cor- 
respondence, and  study,  and  sermon  writing,  and  the  care  of  my 
family,  occupy  my  whole  time.  These  last,  thank  God,  are  now 
pretty  well.  While  I  was  North  last  summer,  Mrs.  Sparrow  was 
dangerously  ill,  but  I  did  not  know  of  it  till  the  danger  was  over. 
Mr.  Syle,  who  has  returned  from  England,  is  teaching  the  three 
oldest  children,  and  Miss  S.,  who  lives  in  the  family,  the  rest.  They 
are  all  growing  up  so  fast,  that  I  feel  myself  an  old  man.  I  am 
glad  to  hear  that  C.  is  coming  on  with  his  studies,  and  hope  that 
my  namesake,  when  he  recovers  from  his  sore  eyes,  will  follow  his 
example.  Mrs.  W.  has  made  our  girls  quite  happy  by  her  epistle. 
Give  my  very  best  regards  to  her  and  the  children,  and  remember 
me  to  all  my  Gambier  friends. 

"Most  truly,  your  affectionate  friend,          WM.  SPAKKOW." 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  157 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  FAIRFAX  Co.,  VA., 

"April5,  1844. 
"  REV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER  : — 

"  It  is  rather  hard  that  such  changes  should  be  taking  place  in 
Kenyon,  and  that  the  man  who  first  taught  in  it  should  not  hear 
from  the  second  employed,  though  friendly  relations  subsist  between, 
so  much  as  a  hint  upon  the  subject,  not  even  a  petty  catalogue.  Do 
tell  me  something  about  matters  and  things,  the  doings  of  the  board, 
the  resignation  of  the  president,  and  the  plans  for  the  future. 

"I  have  just  received  a  letter  from  brother  Dennison,  saying 
that  Bishop  Chase,  being  about  to  publish  the  Kenyon  College  part  of 
his  reminiscences,  has  addressed  him  an  epistle,  to  know  if  he 
repents  of  the  part  he  took  with  Sparrow,  etc.,  and  is  willing,  by 
acknowledgment  of  his  sin,  to  save  himself  from  disgrace  in  this 
world,  and  from  punishment  in  the  world  to  come.  So,  you  see,  I 
have  to  be  put  through  another  ordeal.  I  have  made  up  my  mind 
what  to  do,  namely,  either  to  observe  a  profound  silence,  or  just  to 
say,  in  some,  public  print,  that  I  have  seen  his  publication,  but  that, 
as  the  subject  was  thoroughly  discussed  at  the  time,  and  in  oneway 
or  another  acted  on  and  decided  by  the  Trustees,  by  the  Ohio  Con- 
vention, and  afterward  by  the  General  Convention ;  and,  as  many 
years  have  since  passed  away,  and  with  them  all  the  controversial 
feeling  which  the  difficulty  occasioned,  I  shall  let  the  matter  rest, 
being  willing  to  abide  the  judgment  of  the  world  and  the  Church, 
and  the  final  Arbiter  of  all  things.  This,  it  strikes  me,  will  be  the 
most  Christian  and  expedient  mode  of  dealing;  and  certainly,  it  is 
the  course  which  my  feelings  would  dictate.  The  older  I  grow  the 
less  I  love  controversy,  and  I  never  loved  it  much. 

"  I  saw  Judge  M.  a  few  weeks  ago,  for  a  few  minutes,  in  Wash- 
ington. It  was  most  pleasing  to  me  to  see  the  face  of  an  old  Ohio 
man.  I  could  have  wished  to  know  more  of  Ohio  affairs.  When 
are  you  coming  this  way  ?  At  the  next  General  Convention  ?  0, 
do  come,  and  let  us  see  one  another's  faces  in  the  flesh  once  more. 
Mine — my  face  I  mean — you  will  find  care-worn,  and  marked  with 
the  multiplying  hieroglyphics  of  age.  As  to  your's,  I  suppose  it 
is  smooth,  and  sleek,  and  plump,  an  index  of  the  equability  of  your 
temper  and  of  your  life.  Mrs.  Sparrow,  also,  would  be  right  glad 
to  see  you,  though,  I  suppose  I  may  say,  without  offence,  not  so 
glad  as  to  see  your  better  half.  As  to  my  seeing  you  in  Ohio,  there 
is  nothing  in  the  way  but  the  expense,  but  that  ia  a  serious  obstacle. 


158  MEMOIR    OF 

"How  is  your  family?  How  are  my  god-sons,  especially  my 
namesake?  As  to  mine,  thank  God,  we  are  all  alive,  but  have  a 
great  deal  of  sickness,  chiefly  occasioned  by  cold,  during  the  last 
three  months.  My  own  health  has  been,  during  the  winter,  quite 
as  good  as  usual,  and,  perhaps,  better,  until  within  a  fortnight  or 
three  weeks  since,  when  I  have  been  suffering  from  such  an  influ- 
enza as  I  have  never  had  before. 

"  Of  our  Seminary,  you  have  learned  something  from  our  cata- 
logue. We  are  prospered  more  than  I  expected,  but  our  prosperity 
gives  great  uneasiness  to  some.  I  really  believe  they  would  think 
it  well  if  we  could  be  all  sunk  in  the  Potomac.  But  that  matters 
little,  if  we  are  only  found  faithful  before  God. 

"  Do  tell  me  something  about  your  Seminary  and  professors.  My 
family  send  true  love  to  yours. 

"Ever  yours,  WM.  SPARROW." 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  FAIRFAX  Co.,  VA., 

"January  2,  1845. 
"  REV.  AND  DEAR  SIR  : — 

"  I  am  truly  pleased  to  have  heard  from  you,  and  especially  to 
have  received  from  you  such  a  well-filled  letter.  I  should  have 
answered  it  ere  this,  if  I  had  not  been  prevented  by  an  unusual 
amount  of  work  and  headache. 

"  When  I  talk  of  the  amount  of  my  work,  I  do  not  judge  by 
your  standard.  What  would  be  a  grasshopper  to  you,  would  be  a 
burden,  a  mountain  to  me.  The  man  that  can  prepare  three  written 
sermons  a  week,  and  two  Christmas  sermons,  as  extras,  attending, 
at  the  same  time,  to  the  sundries  of  parochial  duty,  can  hardly 
understand  what  work  is.  He  may  do  it,  as  the  man  who  talked 
prose,  but  like  him,  be  as  ignorant  all  the  time  what  it  is ;  the  word 
might  as  well  be  stricken  out  of  his  vocabulary,  at  least  when  he  is 
talking  of  himself. 

"One  pleasing  feature  of  your  letter  was  the  mention  in  it  of  so 
many  old  friends.  In  Delaware,  as  you  know,  I  preached  my 
second  and  third  sermon,  and  many  more  afterward,  and  as  I 
always  met  kindness  from  the  inhabitants,  of  course  I  feel  no  slight 
attachment  to  them. 

"So  you  are  going  to  have  a  $12,000  church !  The  Lord  enable 
you  to  pay  for  it,  and  fill  it  with  spiritual  worshipers.  I  sympa- 
thize with  you  most  fully  in  your  feeling  in  your  new  position,  and 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D. 

your  anxiety  to  see  fruit  from  your  labors.  What  is  life  worth  to 
a  minister  of  Christ,  unless  he  is  enabled  to  be  useful,  and  is  made 
the  instrument  of  saving  souls  alive?  To  the  worldling  it  has 
another  value.  We  profess  to  see  no  utility  in  it  except  as  a  means 
of  saving  ourselves,  and  those  who  hear  us.  Dear  brother,  let  me 
urge  one  thing  upon  you.  I  do  it  with  a  deep  consciousness  of  my 
own  deficiency  therein,  but  it  is  multum  in  parvo,  and  when  faith- 
fully attended  to  brings  every  other  good  with  it — '  all  other  things 
are  added  unto  it.'  I  refer  to  private  prayer  for  blessing  on  your 
labors.  The  man  that  does  good,  and  will  appear  at  the  last  day 
with  a  great  company  saved  through  his  instrumentality,  is  the 
man  of  prayer.  The  philosophy  of  the  thing,  as  theologians  would 
say,  is  familiar  to  you ;  but  there  is  a  Divine  philosophy  applicable 
to  this  matter  which  it  is  far  better  to  rely  on.  I  mean  the  philoso- 
phy of  faith.  God  has  said  that  He  Himself  gives  the  increase, 
and  that  he  gives  it  in  answer  to  prayer.  That  is  enough.  If 
more  were  needed,  without  going  into  deeper  speculation,  induction 
proves  the  same ;  all  eminent  ministers  of  Christ  have  been  earnest 
in  private  prayer.  These  remarks  are  no  novelty  to  you,  or  me,  or 
any  other  Christian,  yet  I  make  them.  It  is  by  such  obvious  truths, 
coming  from  every  quarter,  and  through  every  medium,  that  we 
daily  live  and  grow  as  ministers  of  Christ. 

"  We  are  pretty  prosperous  here.  I  believe  there  are  fifty-two 
students  on  the  ground.  Satan,  and  Alexander  the  Coppersmith, 
and  Demas,  are  to  be  looked  for  everywhere;  but,  perhaps,  we  are 
as  little  troubled  by  such  visitors  as  any  community  to  be  found. 

"  You  have  not  yet  heard  of  the  regular  conspiracy  in  the  Gene- 
ral Seminary  to  Romanize  the  Church.  The  students  had  formed 
a  society,  secret,  with  the  watchword  '  C.  IT.,'  Catholic  Unity,  and 
have  been  in  communication  with  the  Romish  Bishop.  They 
meant  to  colonize  here,  that  the  work  might  go  on  simultaneously 
everywhere.  I  wonder  whether  there  be  now  any  of  the  revolu- 
tionists among  us  already! !  The  subject  is  now  before  the  Faculty 
in  New  York,  and  a  committee  of  three  Bishops,  Lee,  Henshaw, 
and  DeLancy,  have  been  appointed  to  investigate  the  matter.  It 
is  curious  enough  that  this  should  come  out  after  they  had,  by 
resolution,  just  whitewashed  the  Seminary. 

"  Bishop  Onderdonk  is  probably  pronounced  upon  this  day.  The 
whole  will  be  published,  testimony  and  all.  One  of  the  female  wit- 
nesses was  under  examination  six  hours !  It  was  designed,  they 


160  MEMOIR    OF 

say,  to  intimidate  others  by  the  rough  handling  given  her,  and  it 
had,  in  part,  its  effect.  But  she  and  some  others  carried  themselves 
well  through  it  all.  If  the  man  is  guilty,  may  the  Lord,  for  the 
Church's  sake,  reward  him  according  to  his  deeds,  so  far  as  human 
censure  is  concerned;  and  may  it  have  the  effect  of  leading  him  to 
true  repentance.  0,  what  mischief  he  must  have  done  to  true 
religion!  How  many  serious  thoughts,  in  young  and  old,  must 
have  been  dissipated ;  how  many  infidel  and  blasphemous  remarks 
must  his  known  misconduct  have  occasioned. 

"  My  family,  thank  God,  are  all  well.  The  two  oldest  children 
went,  yesterday,  with  Dr.  May  and  Miss  S.,  the  Doctor's  niece,  to 
the  Levee.  The  day  was  most  lovely,  as  is  this.  So  was  Christ- 
mas Day,  and  so  was  our  chapel,  being  decorated  with  evergreens. 
Remember  me  to  all  my  friends,  and  believe  me, 

"  Most  truly,  your  friend,  WM.  SPARED w. 

"Rw.  KH.  Canfield" 


"  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  FAIRFAX  Co.,  VA., 

"  January,  3,  1846. 
"  REV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER  : — 

"  You  have,  doubtless,  wondered  that  I  have  not  written  before 
this;  but  you  know  my  'often  infirmities,'  both  of  body  and  of 
mind,  and  will  bear  with  my  neglect. 

"  I  returned,  a  few  days  ago,  from  Baltimore,  where  I  spent  two 
Sundays  with  my  daughter  Mary.  Had  I  not  been  unwell,  the  visit 
would  have  been  an  exceedingly  pleasant  one.  Mr.  Thompson  went 
on  the  day  after  me,  and  spent  the  first  Sunday  there,  on  his  way 
to  Philadelphia.  I  preached  in  the  morning,  and  he  at  night.  He 
was  taken  (so  much  honor  do  gray  hairs  secure),  for  old  Dr.  Spar- 
row, and  I  for  young  Mr.  T.  He  preached  with  as  much  ease  and 
freedom  as  if  he  had  been  in  the  pulpit  for  the  last  twenty-five 
years.  His  elocution  was  very  fine,  and  pleased  the  people  very 
much.  He  has  been  offered  the  assistantship  at  Christ  Church. 
Whether  he  will  accept  is  not  yet  known.  W.  had  been  in  the 
post  for  some  time,  but  had  just  resigned  it,  with  Dr.  J.'s  approba- 
tion, for  a  country  parish.  The  Doctor,  of  course,  was  willing  to 
see  another  parish  under  good  influence.  W.,  who  always  promised 
well,  has  come  out  a  very  sound  man,  and  I  rejoice  to  add  his 
health  is  most  wonderfully  improved.  It  gave  me  great  pleasure 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.   D.  161 

to  see  him  recovered  in  spirits  from  his  heavy  affliction,  and  re- 
stored to  soundness  of  body. 

"  Of  course,  I  saw  Mr.  P.  Mary  stopped  at  his  house,  and  is 
there  yet.  He  is  doing  well.  His  school  is  prosperous.  He  is 
most  fiercely  set  against  the  new-fangled  Protestant  notions  of  the 
day.  You  know  how  I  love  P.,  and  this  last  intercourse  with  him 
has  only  enhanced  my  esteem  for  him.  He  is  one  of  Nature's  no- 
blemen. 

"Dr.  J.  is  very  prosperous.  He,  of  course,  stands  in  the  fore- 
front of  the  battle,  and  has,  therefore,  to  endure  a  great  many  hard 
knocks;  but  he  bears  up  manfully  against  it,  and  the  Lord  seems 
to  be  blessing  him  in  his  Church.  I  preached  there  twice  last 
Sunday,  and  never  saw  nobler  congregations. 

"  Newman,  you  know,  has  gone  the  way  of  all  consistent  Pusey  - 
ites,  and  has  published  a  book.  It  is  called  'An  Essay  on  the 
Development  of  Christian  Doctrine.'  I  am  now  reading  it,  the 
first  work  of  his  which  I  have  read,  except  a  few  of  the  Tracts.  It 
shows  great  ingenuity  and  learning.  Certainly  he  must  be  a  pow- 
erful man.  Pusey,  by  his  side,  is  a  driveler.  The  book,  I  would 
think,  must  bring  many  halting  minds  in  England  to  a  decision. 
Aa  for  American  Pusey ites,  they  are  not  sufficiently  in  earnest  to 
cut  off  the  right  hand,  and  pluck  out  the  right  eye,  in  the  service 
of  what  they  deem  the  truth.  Would  that  they  were.  It  would 
be  better  for  them  as  men,  and  it  would  be  better  for  us  as  a 
Church.  Our  being  able  to  slough  off  this  dead  matter  of  our  sys- 
tem will  depend,  I  think,  much  on  this.  If  those  who  are  not  of 
us  go  not  out  from  us,  the  leaven  will  still  be  left  at  work  in  our 
midst.  People  will  not  believe  that  it  exists,  or  else  they  will 
fancy  it  is  innocuous.  As,  therefore,  the  American  Puseyites  are 
not  so  self-sacrificing  as  the  British,  I  expect  to  find  our  Church 
laboring  under  this  disease,  long  after  that  of  England  has  been 
restored  to  health. 

"Things  are  getting  on  here  about  as  usual.  The  High-school 
has  fifteen  pupils  for  the  start.  Mr.  D.  has  taken  hold  with  pro- 
digious energy,  and  is  getting  his  school  into  perfect  discipline. 
West  Point  cannot  surpass  it.  I  have  no  doubt  that  if  he  perse- 
veres in  his  present  course,  in  one  year  he  will  have  as  many  pupils 
as  is  expedient. 

"  I  was  much  interested  in  your  account  of  yourself.  You  seem, 
indeed,  to  have  taken  charge  of  an  unpromising  field;  but  I  trust 
11 


162  MEMOIR    OF 

things  begin  to  look  more  cheerful.  Though  I  have  been  so  dila- 
tory in  writing,  I  am  unreasonable  enough  to  wish  to  hear  from 
you  again  soon,  that  I  may  know  how  the  Lord  prospers  you  in 
the  good  work.  I  have  had  letters  from  Dr.  R.,  Dr.  B.,  and  D.,  of 
your  class.  Dr.  R.  has  been  over-persuaded  to  settle  in  his  native 
county,  where  the  field  is  very  unpromising.  Dr.  B.  was  hardly 
under  way  yet.  D.  is  well,  and  pleased  with  his  post. 

"  Thus  I  have  given  you  all  the  items  of  news  I  could  think  of. 
I  am  a  poor  hand  at  such  work,  but  you  will  be  glad  of  anything 
in  your  out  of  the  world  condition. 

'•'The  prospect  of  war  has  saddened  me  much,  but  thank  God, 
the  clouds  are  breaking  away.  '  The  Lord  reigneth,'  in  Church 
and  State;  that  is  our  security  and  comfort.  Remember  me  in 
your  prayers,  especially  the  Seminary.  My  family  desire  their 
kind  regards. 

"  Your  friend  and  brother  in  Christ,  WM.  SPARROW. 

"  Rev.  C.  Walker." 

"  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  FAIRFAX  Co.,  VA., 

"July  16,  1846. 
"  REV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER  : — 

"As  to  your  examination  for  Priest's  orders,  you  need  have  no 
apprehension.  Bishop  Meade  will  take  no  exception  to  your  views. 
Though  the  Bishop  eschews  everything  that  sounds  or  looks  meta- 
physical, he  would,  I  am  persuaded,  practically  approve  your 
position. 

"  I  wish  you  had  been  with  me  at  the  examination.  We  had 
Bishop  Lee,  and  Dr.  Tyng,  and  sundry  others,  especially  Mr. 
Fowle.  He  is  famous,  perhaps,  as  you  already  know,  as  a  Calvin- 
ist.  He  is  much  more  systematic  and  open  than  any  of  his 
brethren.  He  is  not  content,  as  John  Newton  said,  that  Calvinism 
should  be  like  sugar  in  his  tea — dissolved  and  diffused  through  it ; 
he  will  have  it  in  lump.  I  had  a  little  talk  with  him  on  these  nice 
points,  but  though  I  thought  him  exceedingly  extravagant  in  some 
of  his  positions,  I  was  much  pleased  with  the  man.  He  has  a 
pretty  strong,  plain  mind,  and  of  a  sweet  disposition,  I  should 
judge.  Dr.  Tyng  preached  the  Alumni  sermon  (though  not  an 
Alumnus),  and  the  ordination  sermon.  He  is  a  wonderful  man. 
As  a  preacher,  especially  in  the  extemporaneous  way,  I  know  no 
man  like  him.  Bishop  Lee  preached,  they  say,  an  excellent  sermon 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  163 

for  the  Missionary  Society.     His  recent  charge  on  the  Bule  of 
Faith  is  as  'sound  as  a  bell.' 

"Our  classes  did  so-so.  They  went  off  in  good  spirits,  and  pur- 
posing all  to  return  again,  except  the  graduating  class,  which 
seemed  to  leave  with  true  regret.  Norton  preached  for  Mr.  John- 
ston, Dr.  Stearns  for  Mr.  Dana,  Weed  for  Mr.  Bean,  Tyng  for  Mr. 
Shiras,  and  Woodward  at  Falls  Church  last  Sunday.  The  people 
were,  in  general,  highly  pleased  with  the  performances  of  these 
young  men.  The  class  contains  a  fair  share  of  piety  and  talent. 
May  the  Lord  increase  them  tenfold,  and  bless  them  in  the  conver- 
sion of  souls. 

"I  do  not  wonder  you  feel  as  you  express  yourself  about  Buy. 
I  never  felt,  from  a  death  out  of  my  own  family,  such  a  blow.  I 
had  flattered  myself  that  he  was  destined  to  great  usefulness ;  but 
God's  thoughts  are  not  as  ours.  I  hoped  to  see  him  an  able  advo- 
cate of  the  truth  with  his  pen ;  and  the  rather,  as  he  seemed  to  be 
maturing  and  settling  down,  every  day,  more  firmly  on  what  I 
deem  the  true  foundation.  The  last  letter  I  received  from  him, 
written  four  days  before  his  death,  was,  in  this  view,  most  charm- 
ing in  its  character.  But  regrets  are  vain;  nay,  they  are  wrong, 
when  the  object  is  an  ordering  of  the  all- wise  providence  of  God. 

"  Our  Hill  is  nearly  deserted.  Dr.  Bache,  Superintendent  of  the 
Coast  Survey,  has  made  the  Seminary  Cupola  one  of  his  'stations,' 
and  will  soon  be  here  with  his  family,  mathematical  and  otherwise. 
This  may  give  a  little  variety  to  our  life.  Hoping  you  may  be 
able  to  visit  us  at  the  time  you  speak  of,  I  remain, 

"Very  truly,  your  friend  and  brother,  W.  S. 

"  Rev.  C.  Walker r 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  FAIRFAX  Co.,  VA., 

"December  12,  1846. 
"  DEAR  BROTHER  : — 

"  It  pains  me  to  think  that  I  should  be  left  so  long  in  profound 
ignorance  about  the  health  and  happiness  of  my  most  intimate, 
and  almost,  my  oldest  Ohio  friend;  and  what  my  feelings  are 
toward  you,  are  Mrs.  Sparrow's  toward  you  and  your  wife.  Often, 
during  the  last  months,  have  we  talked  together  about  you  both, 
and  felt  a  true  desire  to  know  how  you  and  your  family  are.  I 
have  written  you,  and  she  has  written  Mrs.  Wing,  but  neither  of  us 
has  yet  got  an  answer.  I  write  this  to  see  if  I  cannot  elicit  some- 


164  MEMOIR    OF 

thing.  I  know  you  may  be  pressed  hard  with  duty,  and  especially, 
perhaps,  have  much  writing  to  do.  In  that  line  I  have  much 
experience  myself,  as  much,  perhaps,  as  has  ever  fallen  to  my  lot 
before.  But  still,  I  think,  we  both  ought  to  continue,  by  an  occa- 
sional letter,  to  keep  the  chain  of  an  old  friendship  bright,  or,  at 
least,  not  to  let  it  be  eaten  up  of  rust. 

"  I  was  sorry  to  hear,  through  Canfield,  that  you  had  been  sick 
in  Delaware,  during  the  Convention,  and  that  fact  has  disposed  me 
not  to  judge  you  too  hastily  for  your  silence.  I  trust,  however, 
that  sickness  did  not  last  long.  We  have  all  enjoyed  tolerable 
health,  during  the  past  summer  and  fall,  except  that  about  one-half 
of  our  number  have  had  slight  attacks  of  what  troubled  you,  chills 
and  fever.  I  was  confined  to  my  bed  for  a  week,  and  thought  it 
was  going  to  be  a  severe  attack,  such  as  I  once  had  in  Ohio.  But 
it  passed  away,  through  the  goodness  of  God,  and  did  not  return. 
The  children  and  Mrs.  S.  had  slight  attacks,  but  in  the  case  of  the 
children  they  returned  frequently.  We  are  all  well  now,  thank 
God.  There  has  been  much  sickness  of  that  kind,  all  through  this 
country,  the  past  summer,  even  in  the  most  unlikely  localities. 

"  Do  tell  me,  also,  about  the  College.  Truly,  I  long  to  hear  of 
its  prosperity.  If  it  had  been  at  all  possible,  I  would  have  gone 
on  when  so  kindly  invited  by  the  Bishop,  especially  to  attend  the 
Commencement  and  the  Convention.  My  hope  now  is  that  I  may 
be  able  to  do  so  next  summer;  though  all  such  hopes  are,  with  me, 
much  more  languid  than  they  used  to  be,  partly  because  I  am 
older,  and  have  a  deeper  feeling  of  the  uncertainty  of  life,  and 
partly  because  I  find  it  not  so  easy  now  to  bear  the  expenses  of 
traveling.  Remember  me  kindly  to  President  B.,  and  any  other 
of  the  Professors  who  would  be  pleased  to  hear  from  me. 

"  Do  you  often  see  brother  D.  now  ?  Remember  me  affectionately 
to  him  when  you  have  an  opportunity.  Many  years  ago  I  selected, 
in  my  mind,  yourself,  and  Dennison  and  Preston,  as  a  trio  of  pecu- 
liar friends.  And  though,  owing  to  peculiar  circumstances,  I  have 
never  troubled  D.  with  my  letters,  I  have  ever  held  him  in  the 
same  estimation  I  did,  especially,  as  I  see  that,  in  religious  and 
ecclesiastical  matters,  he  has,  in  this  changing  age,  remained  un- 
changed. 

"Speaking  of  Preston,  I  have,  through  him  and  otherwise,  re- 
ceived some  private  overtures  about  Trinity  Church,  Columbus,  but 
have  not  felt  at  liberty  to  give  them  any  encouragement.  If  I  ever 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  165 

go  into  a  parish,  it  must  be  one  where  things  are  settled  and  fixed 
on  the  firmest  foundation.  I  might  preach,  and  do  pastoral  duty  in 
an  established  congregation,  with,  perhaps,  some  little  efficiency, 
but  trouble  would  break  me  down  at  once.  I  had  my  share  of  that 
in  former  years,  and  I  do  not  mean  to  seek  any  more,  though  it 
may  be  the  Lord's  will  to  send  it  to  me. 

"What  is  the  condition  of  Ohio  ecclesiastically?  I  am  often 
asked  this  question.  Help  me  to  answer  it.  How  does  the  Bishop 
like  his  new  residence  ?  What  use  do  you  make  of  his  old  house  ? 
When  I  think  what  a  nice  place  it  is,  I  almost  wish  you  could  pro- 
vide some  sinecure  in  connection  with  the  College  or  Seminary,  and 
give  me  that  house  to  live  in.  What  are  your  duties  now  in  con- 
nection with  the  Institution?  Are  you  secularized  in  any  way 
besides,  as  I  am  in  the  Post-office  ?  By  the  way,  I  give  the  per- 
quisites of  my  office  to  my  assistant,  and  during  the  past  year 
have  had  even  to  pay  him  for  my  letters,  though  I  shall  do  so  no 
more.  How  is  Mr.  W.  and  family?  Remember  us  all  to  them. 
And  now,  what  shall  I  say  more,  except  it  be  that  Mrs.  S.  and 
myself  will  grieve  much  if  we  do  not  soon  get  an  answer  to  this, 
and  to  assure  you  that,  in  silence  on  your  part  or  otherwise,  I  am 
ever,  still, 

"Your  friend  and  brother,  WM.  SPARROW." 


"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  November  20,  1847. 
"REV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER: — 

"  It  would  be  hard  to  say  how  often  the  thought  of  writing  you 
has  come  into  my  mind  without  attaining  to  objective  reality.  That 
the  thought  should  come  is  proof  of  my  friendship ;  that  the  letter 
did  not  go  was  proof  of  my  laziness,  procrastination,  and  general 
inefficiency.  There  are  some  extenuating  circumstances,  partly 
permanent,  and  partly  accidental.  Of  the  first  is  my  often  infirmi- 
ties; of  the  second,  my  absence  during  the  summer,  and  unusual 
press  of  business  since  I  got  home.  Immediately  after  vacation 
I  went  up  into  the  Valley  with  two  of  my  children,  and  spent  five 
weeks  most  agreeably.  I  was  at  home  but  a  few  days,  when  I  set 
off  again  for  Pittsburg  and  Ohio.  I  attended  the  Ohio  Convention, 
and  saw  many  friends.  I  also  visited  my  old  residence,  and  went 
up  to  Lake  Erie,  and  wet  my  hand  once  more  in  its  waters.  It 
was  very  grateful  to  my  feelings  to  see  old  and  kind  friends,  and 


166  MEMOIR    OF 

to  visit  the  scene  of  former  years'  labor,  and  pleasure,  and  pain.  I 
did.  not  get  back  till  the  second  week  of  the  term. 

"Soon  after  my  return  your  letter  was  handed  me  by  Mr.  B,., 
but  I  have  not  seen  him  since,  except  en  passant,  though  I  formally 
invited  him  to  tea  on  one  occasion.  He  seems  a  fine  young  man, 
and  I  shall  endeavor  to  get  acquainted  with  him.  My  reputation 
is  so  bad,  for  my  Low-Churchmanship,  that,  perhaps,  he  is  afraid 
of  me. 

"  I  am  pleased  to  hear  that  you  are  getting  along  so  well ;  though 
that  phrase  is  so  indefinite  that  any  sense  may  be  put  upon  it.  It 
may  or  may  not  have  a  spiritual  reference;  it  may  include  only 
popularity,  and  not,  also,  usefulness  to  the  souls  of  men.  Of  this, 
dear  brother,  I  doubt  not  that  you  are  aware;  and  that  you  look 
for  fruit  as  well  as  blossoms,  though  the  people  generally  do  not. 
I  often  think  how  different  the  estimate  the  world  (and  the  Church) 
makes  of  clergymen,  and  that  which  Paul,  or  our  Divine  Master 
would  make.  By  the  way,  this  has  been  very  much  pressed  upon 
my  mind  of  late,  by  reading  the  life  of  Simeon.  Though  not  a 
well  compiled  work,  it  is  most  instructive  in  a  spiritual  way. 
Simeon  was  a  man  of  no  extraordinary  abilities,  by  any  means,  and 
yet,  by  rightly  understanding  his  proper  work,  and  devoting  him- 
self singly  and  unreservedly  to  that,  he  did  more  good,  as  I 
believe,  than  any  of  his  contemporaries.  His  operations  were,  to 
a  great  extent,  silent  and  secret,  but  they  were  very  effective,  and 
extended  far  and  wide.  Another  book  of  a  similar  character  I  am 
now  reading,  which  has  pleased  me  much,  'The  Life  and  Remains 
of  McCheyne,'  a  young,  Scotch  Presbyterian  Minister.  And, 
since  I  am  talking  of  books,  let  me  mention  Mrs.  Nicholson's 
'Stranger's  Welcome  to  Ireland,'  the  only  book  that  contains  a  true 
idea  of  the  poor,  potato-eating  Irish.  She  is  a  perfect  original  of 
a  traveler,  a  female  Borrow,  and  though  there  are  several  things 
about  her  I  do  not  like,  she  is  a  perfect  heroine,  and  deserves  well 
for  her  benevolence  to  a  most  afflicted  people.  Unlike  most  trav- 
elers, she  sought  out  the  poor,  not  the  rich,  and  so  cast  in  her  lot 
with  them  during  her  sojourn,  in  a  village  or  a  cabin,  so  as  to  have 
a  full  view  of  their  lives  and  characters. 

"Of  Hill's  'Divinity,'  I  think  as  you  do.  It  is  many  years  since 
I  read  it  in  the  English  edition,  but  I  thought  its  author  the  most 
philosophical  divine  in  the  language  who  had  attempted  a  system  of 
Theology. 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  167 

"By  this  time,  I  suppose  you  have  been  called  to  fill  R.'s  place, 
and  I  surmise  you  will  accept.  Notwithstanding  your  acceptability 
in  your  present  position,  I  cannot  say  I  wish  to  see  you  continue 
there.  I  feel  persuaded  that  for  your  ultimate  ministerial  charac- 
ter and  usefulness,  a  place  of  different  cast,  for  a  few  years,  is 
desirable.  When  you  have  made  up  your  mind,  do  write  and  let 
me  know.  My  interest  in  your  welfare  is  the  only  cause  of  my 
request.  At  the  same  time,  do  let  me  know  of  B.  and  his  family. 
Pray  visit  them,  and  present  them  my  best  respects.  I  saw  them 
all  last  summer,  at  the  Springs,  but  have  heard  nothing  since.  I 
know  not  when  I  have  been  more  struck  than  by  the  prudence, 
firmness,  and  Christian  resignation  of  Mrs.  B.,  in  her  great  afflict- 
ive trial. 

"  As  you  failed,  last  examination,  to  be  with  me,  I  hope  you  will 
not  fail  the  next.  It  is  a  great  encouragement  to  us  to  have  the 
countenance  of  old  friends  on  these  occasions.  As  to  my  address, 
I  have  not  been  able  to  satisfy  myself  about  the  expediency  of 
publication,  though  I  have  been  pressed  beyond  measure  by  Bishop 
Meade.  You  might  like  it,  but  others  would  not.  With  sincere 
prayers  for  your  personal  and  ministerial  welfare,  I  am,  most  truly, 
"  Your  friend  and  brother,  W.  S. 

"  Rev.  C.  Walker." 

"  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  FAIRFAX  Co.,  VA., 

"January  4,  1848. 
"REV.  AND  DEAR  SIR: — 

"The  arrival  of  your  letter,  a  few  days  ago,  afforded  me  much 
pleasure.  Why  apologize  for  what  you  call  your  egotism !  If  you 
were  writing  to  a  stranger,  or  an  acquaintance  who  was  indifferent 
to  you  and  yours,  such  thoughts  would  not  be  unnatural,  but  they 
are  quite  out  of  place  in  the  present  instance.  Notwithstanding 
the  marvelous  powers  of  the  telegraph,  it  does  not  inform  us  about 
absent  friends,  neither  do  the  newspapers,  and  I  suppose,  as  long  as 
the  world  stands,  we  shall  have  to  depend  on  the  letters  we  receive 
for  such  information. 

"  The  account  you  give  me  of  sickness  and  death  is  very  sadden- 
ing to  the  flesh,  though  the  spirit  may  rejoice  in  the  reflection  that 
'the  Lord  reigneth,'  and  doeth  all  things  well.  In  Mrs.  L.'s  afflic- 
tion I  most  tenderly  sympathize.  In  Delaware,  I  was  for  a  long 
while  received  as  a  guest  of  Mr.  L.  He  and  Mrs.  L.  had  then  been 


168  MEMOIR    OF 

married  about  two  or  three  years.  It  is  a  long  time  now  since  I 
became  acquainted  with  them,  and  how  intimate,  in  that  space  of 
time,  the  union  that  has  subsisted  between  them,  and  how  necessary 
they  must  have  become  to  each  other.  After  an  affectionate  union 
of  twenty-five  or  thirty  years,  man  and  wife  grow  almost  into  one 
personality ;  and  how  bitter,  therefore,  must  be  the  separation.  No 
doubt  this  cementing  of  unions  and  dissolving  of  unions  is 
designed  of  God,  to  prepare  us  for  our  great  change,  by  making  us 
see  the  vanity  of  all  earthly  things,  even  the  tenderest  and  most 
beloved.  I  hope  Mrs.  L.  has  been  enabled  to  go  to  the  true  source 
of  all  consolation  in  this  great  emergency,  and  has  found  peace  in 
the  assurance  that  it  is  designed  for  good,  and  is  in  the  experience 
of  the  peaceable  fruits  of  righteousness  which  it  is  already  produc- 
ing. Please  remember  me  most  affectionately  to  her,  and  assure 
h«r  she  has  the  feeble  prayers  of  myself  and  Mrs.  S.  Remember 
me,  also,  to  her  children,  and  tell  the  boys,  especially  my  namesake, 
that  I  hope  they  feel  the  importance  of  the  position  in  which  Provi- 
dence has  placed  them,  by  calling  them  to  stand  in  their  father's 
place,  and  be  the  stay  and  comfort  of  their  mother. 

"  The  account  you  give  of  Mr.  F.  is  truly  painful.  'How  sad  to 
see  a  man  resort  to  broken  cisterns,  when  he  might  go  to  an 
exhaustless  fountain.  In  his  case  it  is  the  more  sad,  as  I  believe 
that  in  early  life  he  had  the  best  instruction.  Please  remember 
me  to  him,  as  an  old  friend,  and  say  that  my  hope  is  that  all  the 
vicissitudes  of  life  to  which  he  and  I  may  be  subjected  may  have 
the  happy  effect  of  drawing  us  to  that  Divine  Saviour  who  can 
alone  comfort  and  sanctify. 

"All  here  are  as  usual.  The  number  of  students  is  small; 
smaller  than  ever  since  I  have  been  in  the  Institution,  but  the  pre- 
vailing spirit  is  good.  My  own  family,  thank  God,  has  enjoyed 
usual  health.  They  are  all  hard  at  their  studies,  Latin,  German, 
French,  and  English.  With  God's  help,  I  mean  to  make  them 
scholars.  An  education  is  all  a  poor  parson  can  usually  leave  his 
children,  especially  one  so  little  endowed  with  Yankee  thrift  as  I. 
Of  my  voyage  to  Europe  I  say  nothing,  for  manifest  reasons. 

"  If  we  are  spared  to  next  fall  twelve  months,  and  you  are  still 
in  Delaware,  I  may  visit  you  with  some  of  my  children. 

"Truly  yours,  W.  S. 

"  fiev.  E.  H.  Canfield" 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  169 

The  publications  of  Dr.  Sparrow  during  this  interval  were,  the 
commencement  address,  of  1843,  on  the  right  conduct  of  Theologi- 
cal Seminaries;  a  sermon,  preached  at  the  Convention,  at  Fred- 
ericksburg,  entitled,  "Love  among  Christians  Urged,"  and  the 
annual  sermon  in  1844,  before  the  Board  of  Missions.  The  former 
was  an  elaborate  exposition  of  the  subject  which  it  proposes,  with 
its  special  bearing  upon  the  controversies  at  that  time  pending. 
Assuming  that  there  must  and  will  be  such  Institutions,  the  ques- 
tion is  proposed,  how  they  can  be  conducted  so  as  to  escape  their 
perversions,  and  secure  their  highest  benefits.  To  secure  this,  it 
is  insisted  that  knowledge  shall  be  imparted,  that  this  shall  be 
knowledge  of  God's  truth,  God's  revealed  truth  being  the  ulti- 
mate and  only  standard.  For  this  it  is  further  insisted  there 
must  be  right  principles  —  hermeneutical,  logical,  practical,  and 
moral ;  and  for  the  consistent  Episcopalian,  a  certain  system — that 
in  the  Articles,  Prayer-book,  and  Homilies;  and  that  the  effect 
desired,  a  successful  Gospel  ministry,  can  only  be  reasonably  antici- 
pated when,  with  all  these  other  qualifications,  is  combined  that  of 
spiritual  character,  personal  piety,  personal  experience  of  the  reality 
and  power  of  the  truths  studied  and  to  be  preached  to  others.  The 
most  striking  portion  of  the  address,  perhaps,  is  that  which  exhibits 
the  great  cardinal  doctrine  of  the  Reformation,  its  position  in  the 
system  of  the  Gospel,  as  of  our  standards,  and  its  relations  in  these 
systems  to  other  doctrines. 

The  second  of  these  publications  was  a  sermon,  first  preached  in 
the  ordinary  course  of  chapel  ministry,  and  mainly  of  interest  as  an 
appeal  for  the  cultivation  of  a  spirit  of  love,  of  positive  Christian 
affection  for  all  true  followers  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  whether  found  in 
our  own  or  in  other  Christian  Churches.  The  text,  "  Grace  be  with 
all  them  that  love  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity,"  was  shown 
to  have  its  application  to  all  such,  and  wherever  found;  and  the 
failure  cordially  to  recognize  such  application  was  traced  to  a  defect 
or  an  absence  of  that  love  in  which  so  largely  consists  the  Christian 
character.  Objection  was  made  at  the  time,  not  to  the  doctrine  of 
the  sermon,  but  to  its  illustrations.  Sad  it  is,  now  as  then,  that 
those  illustrations  are  to  be  found  in  such  abundance. 

This  brings  us  to  the  close  of  our  chapter.  In  the  Spring  of 
1848,  the  offer  of  a  trip  across  the  Atlantic,  free  of  expense,  was 
made  to  Dr.  Sparrow,  and  accepted.  With  the  close  of  the  session 
he  began  his  preparations,  and  starting  from  Savannah,  spent  the 


170  MEMOIR    OF 

summer  in  Europe.  It  was  during  this  journey,  while  outward 
bound,  that  the  autobiographical  fragment,  as  to  his  childhood, 
already  given,  was  composed. 

The  following  letters,  all  to  the  same  correspondent,  were  written 
during  the  interval  with  which  this  chapter  is  occupied.  They  will 
help  to  throw  light  upon  some  of  the  facts  and  incidents  to  which 
allusion  is  made  in  the  narrative.  At  the  same  time  they  bring  to 
view  others  of  no  little  importance.  To  use  an  expression  of  the 
correspondent  to  whom  these  letters  were  written,  we  have  in  .them 
"  material  for  that  unconscious  autobiography  which  is  to  be  found 
in  the  correspondence  of  one  who  writes  as  Dr.  Sparrow  did,  fully, 
and  correctly,  and  ingenuously.  Indeed,  it  is  this  gift  or  habit — 
with  him  it  was  both — of  conscientious  letter  writing,  as  a  part  of 
his  ministry,  which  may  be  fixed  upon  as  one  of  his  valuable  char- 
acteristics." The  feelings  and  views,  moreover,  here  and  further 
on  expressed,  as  to  the  great  work  in  which  his  correspondent  was 
engaged,  and  the  spirit  in  which  it  should  go  on,  are  peculiarly 
valuable. 


"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  FAIRFAX  Co.,  VA., 

"May  14,  1841. 
"  MY  VERY  DEAR  MR.  SYLE  : — 

"I  received  your  letter  this  morning,  by  a  student  from  the 
Seminary,  as  I  was  stepping  out  of  the  house  to  go  and  preach  a 
Fast  sermon  in  Christ  Church,  in  this  place  (Alexandria),  and 
though,  of  course,  my  head  was  full  of  other  matters,  I  could  not 
resist  the  temptation  of  reading  it  as  I  walked  through  the  streets, 
and  by  the  time  I  reached  the  vestry  room  I  felt  disappointed  and 
sad.  Why  did  you  not  'come ?  I  was  not  only  willing  to  do  all 
that  I  said,  but  desirous  to  do  it.  I  wanted  to  see  you  here  on 
many  accounts,  some  of  them  selfish,  if,  in  strictness,  I  could  be 
selfish  where  you  are  concerned.  I  would  have  valued  the  instruc- 
tions you  would  have  given  the  children  much  more  than  the 
trifling  expense,  which  so  frightens  you.  On  a  mere  quid  pro  quo 
principle  I  wished  you  here,  and  that  without  taking  up  one 
moment  more  of  your  time  than  you  spent  with  them  in  Gambier. 
Rev.  Mr.  S.  would  have  been  glad  to  have  his  little  daughter  recite 
along  with  them,  to  your  profit. 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  171 

"May  24,1841. 

"  I  was  interrupted  by  a  visitor  when  I  had  written  the  above, 
and  not  being  allowed  soon  to  return  to  the  pleasant  work  of 
writing  you,  I  concluded  to  wait  till  after  our  Convention.  I  now 
write  in  a  state  of  collapse,  almost.  During  the  last  eight  or  nine 
days  our  town  has  been  crowded  with  people — clergymen,  laymen, 
and  lay  women,  from  all  parts  of  the  State,  and  from  other  States. 
Doctor  Milnor,  from  New  York,  Doctors  May  and  Clarke,  from 
Philadelphia,  and  Drs.  Johns  and  Henshaw,  from  Baltimore,  with 
sundry  others  who  are  not  Doctors,  and,  therefore,  not  to  be  par- 
ticularly named !  Bishop  Meade,  and,  above  all,  Bishop  Moore,  was 
here.  The  latter  is  a  most  venerable  old  man,  and  though,  of 
course,  very  infirm,  being  upward  of  eighty,  preaches  with  consid- 
erable spirit,  and  no  little  pathos.  The  preaching  throughout  was 
excellent.  I  had  the  privilege  of  hearing  Johns,  Clarke,  May, 
and  my  old  friend  and  pastor,  Doctor  Milnor.  I  cannot  say  that 
much  good  was  done  in  the  way  of  serious  impression  on  individual 
minds,  but  time,  I  trust,  will  bring  such  cases  to  light.  Some  have 
already  appeared.  We  had  a  Missionary  meeting  on  Sunday  after- 
noon, with  addresses  from  Doctor  Vaughan,  Doctor  May,  Doctor 
Milnor,  and  Bishop  Meade.  Seven  hundred  and  forty  dollars  were 
collected  for  foreign  missions.  Between  three  and  four  hundred 
had  been  collected  before,  for  another  purpose.  The  scene  presented 
by  the  whole  Convention  meeting  was  enlivening  in  the  extreme. 
The  cordial  recognitions  and  greetings  on  every  hand  were  truly 
pleasing.  Virginia  cordiality  and  hospitality  were  exhibited  to 
great  advantage.  The  Convention  business  was  quite  a  subordinate 
matter,  with  one  exception.  Prayer,  and  the  hearing  of  the 
Word,  occupied  nearly  all  the  time.  Our  six  o'clock  morning 
meetings  were  well  attended.  The  body  of  the  Church  was  always 
full.  The  exception  I  referred  to,  was  the  discussion  on  the  Ox- 
ford Tracts.  The  Convention  passed  a  strong  vote  of  censure  upon 
them.  Doctor  Campbell,  the  future  Missionary  to  Mesopotamia, 
was  here,  with  Doctor  Vaughan,  but  he  did  not  speak.  He  is,  as 
yet,  a  layman. 

"  Remember  me  most  kindly  to  all  my  Gambier  friends,  and  tell 
Mr.  Keller  I  shall  be  most  happy  to  hear  from  him.  Fail  not,  at 
least,  to  write  me  soon. 


172  MEMOIR    OF 

"With  best  wishes  and  prayers  for  your  happiness,  in  every 
way,  I  remain,  dear  Mr.  Syle, 

"Your  friend,  WILLIAM  SPARROW. 

"Mr.  E.  W.  Syle,  Gambler,  0." 


"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  FAIRFAX  Co.,  VA., 

"  September  16,  1841. 
"MY  DEAR  SIR:— 

"  On  Saturday  night  I  got  your  very  acceptable  letter ;  L.  having 
gone  to  Alexandria,  and  brought  out  the  mail,  which  would  other- 
wise have  been  there  till  this  morning.  I  was  glad  to  learn  that 
you  are  so  pleasantly  situated ;  but  Philadelphia  is  not  a  place  to 
be  despised. 

"The  freshest  news  is  that  E.  has  got  back,  and  that  Mrs. 
Wing  is  with  us,  and  will  probably  remain  over  this  week.  She 
has  been  quite  disappointed  in  not  seeing  you.  Her  health  is  but 
little  improved.  Nothing  from  Dr.  Keith,  and  little  from  Bishop 
Meade,  except  that  when  last  heard  from  he  was  in  Inverness,  in 
Scotland.  E.  was  some  weeks  on  his  way  home,  so  that  his  news 
had  grown  stale.  He  brought  me  a  note  from  B.,  on  the  eve  of 
his  marriage. 

"The  bell  is  now  ringing  for  morning  prayers,  and  I  must  stop 
for  awhile.  Up  from  breakfast  again,  with  a  letter  .from  Bishop 
Meade.  He  writes  from  London ;  had  been  in  Ireland  and  Scot- 
land, and  was  on  the  wing  for  Paris.  He  hopes  to  sail  from 
Liverpool  on  the  19th  inst  He  has  everywhere  met  with  the  great- 
est kindness.  The  Irish  clergy  are  the  least  infected  with  Oxford- 
ism  of  any  that  he  met.  In  Scotland,  as  we  might  expect,  from 
their  history,  and  as  I  know  from  observation,  so  far  as  that  could 
extend,  they  have  their  faces  more  set  toward  Rome.  Much  of  the 
same  evil  the  Bishop  met  in  England,  but  he  says,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  Tractarians,  the  Establishment  is  much  improved. 

"I  have,  with  the  Bishop's,  got  a  sweet  letter  from  a  sweet 
cousin  in  Ireland.  It  is  odorous  with  the  grace  of  the  Gospel. 
Written  by  a  superior  mind,  highly  cultivated,  and  under  the 
pressure  of  a  heavy  affliction,  though  sustained  by  the  promises  of 
Christ,  it  goes  at  once  to  my  heart.  What  a  comforting  reflection 
that  the  presence  of  our  covenant  God  is  all  pervading,  when  we 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  173 

find  ourselves  unable  to  go  and  minister  consolation,  .personally,  to 
those  we  love. 

"  Most  truly,  your  friend  and  brother  in  Christ, 

"WILLIAM  SPARROW. 
"Mr.  Edward  W.  Syle." 


"  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  NEAR  ALEXANDRIA,  D.  C., 

"May  28,  1842. 
" MY  DEAR  SIR:— 

"  I  returned  last  night  from  Staunton,  and  feeling  fit  for  nothing 
else  (how  complimentary),  I  purpose  writing  you  a  few  lines.  I 
went  to  the  Convention  with  Mr.  Cassius  Lee,  in  a  private  carriage, 
and  spent  the  previous  Sunday  in  Winchester.  I  was  unwell  when 
I  left  home,  and  though  we  had  a  pleasant  drive,  and  through  a 
delightful  country,  I  was  not  better  when  I  reached  Winchester. 
Thence  we  proceeded  on  Monday,  and  by  Tuesday  night,  when  I 
got  to  Staunton,  I  was  as  sick  a  man  as  could  well  travel.  I  went 
to  bed  immediately,  at  the  hotel,  but  next  morning  was  removed  to 
private  quarters,  and  there,  by  advice  of  two  physicians,  I  was 
bled,  and  blistered,  and  so  forth,  and  confined  to  the  house  during 
the  whole  Convention  term.  On  the  last  day,  for  an  hour,  I  was 
taken  to  the  house,  that  I  might  give  in  my  vote  for  an  Assistant 
Bishop,  but  immediately  returned,  no  better  for  the  trip.  Such  is 
the  history  of  my  visit  to  Staunton,  to  attend  the  Convention.  I 
ought  to  say,  however,  that  I  went  to  church,  and  preached  my 
ordination  sermon  on  Sunday.  I  regretted  my  inability  to  attend 
the  Convention,  and  the  religious  exercises  connected  with  it,  for  it 
was  the  unanimous  opinion  that  it  was  altogether  more  profitable 
and  pleasant  than  the  one  held  in  Alexandria.  The  religious 
exercises  were  everything,  and  gave  tone  and  character  to  the 
occasion.  The  preaching  was  spoken  of  as  very  good,  and  the 
spirit  of  brotherly  love  that  prevailed  was  highly  gratifying. 
Bishop  Meade  shone. 

"  He  certainly  is  no  common  man.  He  possesses  wonderful  influ- 
ence over  others,  and  has  great  control  over  himself.  There  is  a 
mixture  of  moderation  and  firmness  in  him  that  is  very  unusual. 
His  confirmation  and  farewell  addresses  were  excellent.  The 
Trustees  have  authorized  me  to  offer  the  Professorship  to  Doctor 
May.  I  shall  not  write  him  for  a  few  days  yet,  and  if  you  should 


174  MEMOIR    OF 

learn  anything,  or  know  anything,  which  it  would  be  well  to  com- 
municate, pray  write  me  promptly. 

"  My  family,  from  the  greatest  to  the  least,  even  Leonard,  by 
sympathetic  imitation,  desire  to  be  most  kindly  remembered  to  you. 
They  all  look  with  strong  desire  for  your  return.  In  regard  to  a 
governess,  the  great  obstacle  is  the  expense.  Anything  you  might 
learn,  without  official  inquiry,  I  would  be  glad  to  hear. 

"  Ever  truly,  your  friend,  WILLIAM  SPARROW. 

"Mr.JE.  W.Syle" 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  July  2,  1842. 
"MY  DEAR  MR.  SYLE  : — 

"I  have  just  learned,  from  the  'Episcopal  Recorder,'  that  Mr.  H. 
has  been  elected  Secretary  of  the  Missionary  Society;  and  as  a 
king  may  arise  that  may  not  know  Joseph,  I  have  thought  it  expe- 
dient to  take  up  my  pen,  and  suggest  that  there  is  no  necessity  of 
tarrying  longer  in  Egypt,  that  the  way  is  clear,  back  to  Canaan, 
and  that  many  are  there  to  receive,  with  all  gladness  of  heart, 
'him  that  was  separated  from  his  brethren.'  This  unexpected 
election  will  cause  us  to  expect  you  much  sooner. 

"  For  your  letters  I  am  under  many  obligations  to  you.  Some  of 
them  have  given  me  a  hearty  laugh,  especially  that  about  Thomas 
Jefferson,  and  the  one  that  speaks  of  Mar  Yohannan;  and  all  have 
pleased  and  cheered  me.  Since  I  have  got  back  from  Convention, 
I  have  scarce  had  a  headache  till  to-day;  so  you  may  judge  I  have 
enjoyed  myself  not  a  little,  corporally.  In  other  respects,  also,  I 
have  had,  perhaps,  more  than  my  usual  share  of  comfort,  far  more, 
at  all  events,  than  I  had  reason  to  expect.  The  only  anxiety  I  have 
just  now  is,  that  Dr.  May  should  not  accept.  We  have  offered  him 
the  department  of  Ecclesiastical  History ;  he  balks  at  it,  though  he 
has  not  given  a  final  negative.  If  the  offer  had  been  Systematic 
Theology,  I  doubt  not  he  would  have  accepted  at  once.  Ought  I 
to  give  that  up,  and  let  him  take  what  he  desires  ?  (I  say  desires, 
though  he  has  not  expressed  any  such  wish.)  The  settling  of  this 
question  gives  me  trouble.  I  hardly  know  what  is  duty.  Mrs. 
Sparrow  says  no.  She  thinks  I  ought  to  retain  what  I  like  best, 
and  incur  no  burdens  by  trying  to  qualify  myself  for  my  new  office. 
The  Lord  direct  me. 

"They  think  of  starting  a  theological  seminary  in  Massachusetts, 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Boston,  and  overtures  have  been  made  to 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  175 

me  on  the  subject,  but  I  do  not  think  seriously  of  the  matter.  The 
plan  is  peculiar,  and  has  some  plausibilities  in  theory,  but  in  prac- 
tice will  not  be  found,  I  think,  to  work  well. 

"  The  prospect  here,  if  we  can  only  get  the  right  kind  of  a  man, 
is  improving,  I  think.  They  say  we  shall  have  a  large  class  next 
year.  The  revivals  in  Virginia  are  likely  to  turn  out  many  candi- 
dates for  holy  orders.  Our  students  seem  to  feel  that  they  have 
done  a  good  year's  work,  and  some  of  them  certainly  have,  in  the 
middle  ~ class.  Had  White,  Hiester,  and  Richmond,  been  able  to 
stay  with  us,  I  should  have  made  a  decent  exhibition  on  Mosheim 
and  Knapp.  Even  as  it  is,  I  hope  they  will  do  well  at  the  approach- 
ing examination.  The  seniors,  I  fear,  will  not  appear,  by  any 
means,  so  well.  There  are  but  four  to  stand  examination.  In  all 
this,  about  the  students  and  Dr.  May,  I  am  thinking  (not  audibly), 
but  legibly,  and  for  your  eye  only. 

"Supposing  Dr.  May  should  not  accept,  have  you  anything  to 
suggest?  Do  you  suppose  Dr.  Clarke  could  be  induced  to  come 
here. 

"A  piece  has  lately  appeared  in  the  '  Witness  and  Advocate,' 
against  our  retention  of  an  Assistant  Bishop,  maintaining  that 
Bishop  Meade  is  not  as  infirm  as  the  case  requires  to  entitle  him 
to  an  assistant.  I  have  attempted  to  answer  him,  in  the  '  Southern 
Churchman.'  If  you  should  find  that  the  piece  referred  to  is  pub- 
lished in  the  City  of  Brotherly  Love,  and  is  thought  to  have  any 
weight,  I  wish,  without  revealing  the  authorship,  you  would  have 
the  reply  published,  first  correcting  the  tremendous  mistakes  of  the 
printer,  who  talks  of  the '  permanent  instability '  of  Bishop  Meade 
(inability);  of  our  Standing  Committees  as  'influential  people,' 
instead  of  '  bodies,'  and  of  my  disposition  to  argue  with  my  oppo- 
nent, when  I  said  agree.  Above  all,  correct  a  sentence  thus: 
'  Canons  may  be  violated  as  well  by  interpreting  them  too  strictly, 
as  too  laxly.  In  the  matter  of  the  Assistant  Bishop,  the  latter 
course  would  multiply  them  when  they  were  not  needed;  the  former 
would  preclude  them  where  the  Church  was  suffering  for  want  of 
their  services.'  All  this  trouble  is  imposed  upon  you  only  if  you 
find  that  the  subject  is  brought  into  the  Philadelphia  papers.  The 
Standing  Committee  of  New  York  has  signed  the  testimonials  of 
our  Assistant  Bishop.  Do  you  know  what  they  are  doing  in 
Philadelphia  ? 

"Ever  yours,  most  truly,  W.  SPARROW." 


176  MEMOIR    OF 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  FAIRFAX  Co.,  VA., 

"July  25,1842. 
"MY  DEAR  MR.  S.:— 

"  I  should  have  written  to  you  long  ago,  but  that  I  have  been 
borne  down,  crushed  into  the  dust,  crushed  like  the  moth,  by  my 
Seminary  duties.  For  some  weeks  before  examination  I  was  at  the 
top  of  my  speed  all  the  time,  and,  of  course,  when  I  got  to  the 
goal,  I  was  completely  out  of  wind,  and  exhausted  of  my  strength. 
Ever  since  then  I  have  been  in  a  state  of  collapse;  and  when  the 
reaction  will  take  place  I  do  not  know.  It  is  a  labor  to  me  now 
to  hold  the  pen.  Yesterday  I  could  not  crawl  to  church. 

"My  chief  comfort  under  all  this  exhaustion,  occasioned  by 
Seminary  labors,  is  that  they  have  not  been  quite  in  vain.  I  have 
heard  little  or  nothing,  but  I  judge,  from  looks,  that  the  examina- 
tion was  satisfactory.  The  middle  class,  I  thought  myself,  did 
well.  I  ought  to  say  there  is  another  thing  to  cheer  me :  Dr.  May 
has  accepted.  I  cannot  tell  how  much  I  was  relieved  by  this  intelli- 
gence, received  last  Friday.  I  have  no  doubt  it  will  prove  a  great 
blessing  to  the  Institution.  And  then,  again,  it  will  be  the  means,  I 
trust,  of  securing  your  return  to  us. 

"Considerable  seriousness  prevails  in  Alexandria.  Mr.  Dana 
baptized  four  young  ladies,  Friends,  a  fortnight  ago,  and  for  some 
time  before,  and  ever  since  then,  there  has  been  a  deep  attention  to 
religion.  While  the  Bishop  was  here  he  held  several  morning 
prayer  meetings,  one  at  five  o'clock,  and  the  attendance  was  very 
good.  Last  Friday  I  went  in  and  took  part  at  the  evening  lecture. 
The  house  was  crowded. 

"But  I  must  stop.  I  am  really  weary  of  writing,  just  as  though 
it  were  hoeing  corn  or  chopping  logs.  My  family  all  desire  to  be 
affectionately  remembered  to  you. 

"As  ever,  your  affectionate  friend,     WILLIAM  SPARROW." 

"  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY  P.  0.,  FAIRFAX  Co.,  VA., 

"March  24,  1843. 
"  MY  DEAR  MR.  SYLE  : —    . 

"I  have  just  received  your  welcome  letter,  in  a  sick  room,  and 
begin  in  the  same  place  to  answer  it;  you  may  expect,  therefore, 
that  the  reply  will  have  many  ailments,  and  hobble  feebly  along. 
But  what  of  that :  a  friend  on  crutches  is  still  a  friend. 

"  Let  me  see  if  there  is  not  some  news.     Rev.  Mr.  Johnston  has 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  177 

been  elected  Bishop  of  Alabama,  and  declined!  Dr. x  Fairfax  told 
him  his  health  would  not  endure  the  climate.  You  will  have  heard 
of  the  death  of  Bishop  Griswold.  He  went  out  to  visit  his  Assist- 
ant Bishop,  Dr.  Eastburn,  fell  at  the  door,  as  was  supposed,  from 
an  affection  of  the  heart,  and  died  in  a  few  minutes.  He  had  just 
finished  a  series  of  papers  on  the  Reformation,  adapted  to  the  times. 
They  constitute  his  dying  testimony,  which,  by  the  by,  is  becoming 
every 'day  more  and  more  needed. 

"I  should  judge,  also,  from  what  I  learn,  that  Bishop  Mcllvaine 
is  not  up  on  matters  of  discipline;  not  going  up  the  ladder,  but 
rather  coming  down.  The  world  has  yet  to  learn  that  doctrine  and 
discipline  are  not  mechanically,  but  chemically  combined,  and  that 
to  be  truly  sound  on  the  one,  a  man  must  be  sound  on  the  other 
also. 

"The  Oxford  men  are  making  prodigious  efforts.  Newman's 
sermons  are  publishing,  recommended  by  Bishops  Onderdonk,  of 
New  York ;  Doane,  of  New  Jersey ;  Whittingham,  of  Maryland ; 
Ives,  of  North  Carolina ;  and  Dr.  Seabury.  Bishop  Whittingham 
is  about  to  publish  a  monthly  theological. 

"Your  statement  about  the  Church  of  Scotland  interested  me. 
If  the  Scotch  Establishment  goes  the  English  will  soon  follow.  But 
you  know  it  is  my  opinion  that  the  knell  of  all  establishments  is 
rung,  though  if  I  were  to  consult  mere  flesh  and  blood,  I  would 
rather  have  a  rectory  in  a  rural  district  in  England,  than  be  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  or  Bishop  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
in  the  United  States.  Should  you  return,  I  wish  you  would  bring 
me  some  three  or  four  pounds'  (sterling)  worth  of  pamphlets  on  the 
Oxford  movement,  especially  those  touching  fundamental  points  of 
Church  government,  and  of  such  points,  especially  the  '  Apostolical 
Succession,'  excepting  'Palmer'  and  'Percival/  which  I  have. 
Even  if  you  should  remain,  and  visit  London,  I  will  contrive  to 
send  you  some  money  for  this  purpose.  Pamphlets  from  first-rate 
men  usually  contain  the  cream  of  long  controversies.  Among  the 
many  publications  commenced  in  this  country  I  have  often  won- 
dered a  '  pamphleteer '  has  not  been  one  of  them. 

"  But  I  must  draw  to  a  close.  My  family,  thank  God,  have  en- 
joyed pretty  good  health  this  winter  (the  latter  part  of  which,  to  the 
present  time,  has  been  very  severe).  I  write  this,  Richard  Hooker 
fashion,  in  the  midst  of  them.  I  hope,  dear  man,  that  his  tempera- 
12 


178  MEMOIR    OF 

ment  was  not  as  nervous  as  mine.  If  it  was  he  never  could  have 
written  the  'Ecclesiastical  Polity'  in  the  nursery,  at  all  events. 
My  health  has  suffered  by  my  exertions  in  going  to  Georgetown, 
but  I  faintly  hope  it  will  improve  as  warm  weather  comes  on.  The 
sight  of  you  would  do  as  much  to  renew  it  as  any  medical  prescrip- 
tion, and  I  think  rather  more;  for,  in  truth,  I  have  pretty  much 
given  up  the  physicians,  in  my  case.  Time  is  my  only  physician, 
which  will  kill,  and,  as  I  hope,  in  infinite  mercy,  cure  at  the  same 
moment.  Our  Seminary  seems  to  be  doing  well.  Dr.  May  is  a 
man  you  would  like,  whatever  you  might  think  of  him  as  a  theolo- 
gian. His  wife  is  to  come  on  after  Easter.  I  hope  for  some 
improvement  to  our  society  therefrom.  The  Doctor  has  read  por- 
tions of  her  letters  to  me,  and  I  should  judge  her  to  be  a  most 
intelligent  and  Christian  woman.  I  hope  you  will  have  written 
again  before  this  reaches  you ;  if  not,  that  you  will  immediately 
after.  In  the  meantime  accept  the  regards  of  my  most  affectionate 
family,  and  let  us  have  your  remembrance  in  your  prayers,  as  you 
always  have  in  those  of  your  ever  faithful  friend  and  brother, 

"W.  SPARROW." 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  FAIRFAX  Co.,  VA., 
"April  27th,  1846. 

"REV.  AND  VERY  DEAR  BROTHER: 

"  On  the  receipt  of  your  welcome  and  long  looked  for  letter,  my 
first  impulse  was  to  sit  down  immediately,  and  pour  out  my  heart 
on  paper,  thanking  God  for  His  preserving  care  of  you  and  yours, 
congratulating  you  on  your  arrival  in  the  scene  of  your  labors,  and 
telling  you  everything  which  I  supposed  would  be  interesting  to  you 
or  Mrs.  Syle.  But  I  was  checked  by  the  reflection  that  for  this  lat- 
ter work  there  would  be  no  place — that  your  relations  and  our 
common  friends  in  Alexandria  would  tell  you  all,  and  more  than  I 
could  possibly  communicate,  in  the  way  of  news.  Added  to  this, 
Dr.  May's  letter  from  you  promised  me  a  second  one  speedily,  and 
so  I  have  been  induced  to  postpone  writing  until  the  present 
moment.  I  trust  that,  coming  after  the  flood  of  friendly  communi- 
cations which  your  first  letters  to  this  country  must  have  brought 
upon  you,  it  will  not  be  the  less  acceptable. 

"But,  with  what,  in  the  way  of  news,  shall  I  begin?  I  begin 
with  the  last,  and  the  most  painful  I  have  to  communicate,  and 
that  which  furnished  me  a  subject  in  the  pulpit  yesterday,  and  in 


WILLIAM    SPARKOW,   D.  D.  179 

the  Faculty  meeting  Thursday  night — I  mean  tha  death  of  my 
dear  young  friend,  Albert  Duy.  He  was  ordained,  you  know,  last 
summer,  and  then,  on  my  representation,  called  as  assistant  to 
Dr.  Cutler.  All  the  expectations  of  the  Brooklyn  Church  were 
more  than  realized,  and  they  were  about  to  give  him  a  permanent  call 
as  Assistant  Rector,  when  he  visited  Philadelphia,  to  consult  with 
his  friends  upon  the  matter,  at  the  same  time  writing  to  me  on  the 
subject.  He  wrote  from  Philadelphia  to  me  on  Wednesday;  I  got 
the- letter  on  Saturday;  I  wanted  to  consult  with  Bishop  Meade, 
who  came  here  on  Monday,  for  his  lectures;  next  morning,  as  I 
was  drawing  up  to  the  table  to  take  my  pen  to  give  him  the  result 
of  my  conference,  in  walked  the  Bishop,  with  the  startling  intel- 
ligence, 'Duy  is  dead.'  He  had  been  taken  sick  the  Friday  pre- 
vious, and  died  on  Sunday  morning,  at  six  o'clock,  at  his  father's 
house,  where  you  have  often  been.  I  cannot  express  my  own  grief 
at  the  event,  for  I  had  a  high  opinion  of  the  talents  and  general  char- 
acter of  Mr.  Duy,  and  looked  forward  to  his  great  usefulness  in  the 
Church,  especially  as  an  able  advocate  of  sound  views  of  doctrine 
and  of  discipline.  But  the  Lord  had  need  of  him  elsewhere,  where 
it  is  better,  far  better  for  him  to  be;  and  we  should,  therefore, 
meekly  acquiesce.  I  hope  his  death  will  be  blessed  to  us  here. 

"As  to  Church  affairs  in  general,  the  newspapers  will  tell 
you  more  than  I  can  communicate.  The  perversions  of  Hewitt 
and  Hoyt  to  Rome  have  made  quite  a  noise/  0,  that  a  few  more 
who  are  Romanists  in  heart  would  follow  them.  This  would  be  a 
blessed  thing  for  them  and  us.  We  shall  never  be  at  peace  till  we 
have  gotten  rid  of  this  popish  leaven.  There  are  very  many  now, 
in  our  Church,  who,  though  they  may  approve  of  the  effects  of  the 
Reformation  in  curtailing  priestly  tyranny,  checking  open  traffic  in 
souls,  putting  down  gross  superstitions,  etc.,  do  not  cordially  receive 
the  fundamental  principles  of  the  Reformation.  The  supremacy  of 
the  Scriptures,  the  unfettered  right  of  private  judgment,  the 
powers  of  the  Church,  as  distinguished  from  the  Clergy — these  are 
things  which  their  souls  hate,  though  some  of  them  do  not  know  it. 
But  never  will  the  inherent  power  of  Christianity,  as  the  power  of 
God,  appear,  till  these  principles  are  acknowledged  and  men  are 
ready  to  meet  their  consequences.  Troublesome  consequences  fol- 
low, you  know,  from  all  principles.  We  cannot  even  go  to  Heaven 
without  'much'tribulation.' 

"  Things  in  New  York  are  very  quiet,  and  likely  to  be,  till  the 


180  MEMOIR    OF 

next  General  Convention.  In  the  meantime  Bishop  0.  will  proba- 
bly have  been  abandoned  by  his  partisans.  Though  the  man  be 
abandoned,  not  so  his  principles.  Dr.  Seabury  has  come  out 
openly  in  favor  of  the  principles  of  Tract  No.  90,  as  those  on 
which  alone  the  Church  can  stand.  Bishop  Hopkins  has,  in  conse- 
quence, published  an  address  to  the  Bishops  and  other  members  of 
the  Church,  in  the  United  States,  warning  them  of  the  danger. 
I  have  not  yet  seen  the  work.  Happy  the  man  who  has  not,  in 
these  days,  yet  to  make  up  his  opinions,  and  who  knows,  and  feels 
the  power  of  first  principles,  else  he  must  be  driven  fearfully  about 
by  the  varying  winds  of  doctrine.  My  conviction  is  that  the 
instability  which  our  Church  has  displayed  in  these  latter  days 
has  arisen  from  a  want  of  moral  and  intellectual  courage,  which 
would  lead,  directly,  to  a  trust  in  God,  and  His  word  and  govern- 
ment, and  from  a  consequent  leaning  on  human  authority  and  human 
expedients.  '  But  the  Lord  reigneth,'  and  he  who  is  established  in 
grace  need  not  be  anxious  about  the  result. 

"  I  have  had  great  apprehensions  of  a  war  with  England.  Our 
Western  members  of  Congress  are  desirous  of  war,  and  many 
others,  under  party  influence,  join  with  them  in  the  clamor. 
They  believe  that  they  can  'whip  England,'  and  they  would  love  to 
do  it.  As  to  title,  I  believe  our  pretensions  are  quite  as  good  as 
those  of  England,  and  that,  of  course,  is  enough  for  the  Hotspurs. 
But  what  a  calamity  to  the  world  a  war  would  be.  The  Lord  in 
mercy  avert  it.  I  believe  that  if  our  Union  held  together,  England 
would  be  eventually  worried  out,  but,  in  the  meantime,  what 
havoc  of  life,  property,  morals,  religion,  and  everything  which  we 
call  good.  Last  summer  I  stayed  at  home,  except  a  trip  to  Nor- 
folk, and  I  am  going  to  do  the  same  thing  this  year.  My  health 
has  been  quite  as  good  as  it  has  ever  been  since  you  and  I 
met — rather  better.  My  duty  in  the  Seminary  is  not  so  irksome, 
in  consequence.  I  have  reason  to  thank  God,  also,  that  my  family 
nave  enjoyed  pretty  good  health.  I  teach  Bessie  and  William  Ger- 
man, orally.  I  find  I  take  more  and  more  pleasure  in  intercourse 
with  the  children,  as  they  grow  up  and  I  grow  older.  On  my  last 
birthday  I  was  saluted  with  three  rhyming  epistles  from  the  child- 
ren, and  others  in  prose.  One  of  them  was  from  Kate,  written,  of 
course,  by  the  mother,  and  if  I  had  room,  I  believe  I  would  tran- 
scribe it,  for  the  amusement  of  yourself  and  Mrs.  Syle.  Perhaps  I 
may  do  it  in  my  answer  to  her  letter,  with  the  understanding  that 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D. 

no  allusion  be  made  to  it  afterward.  Of  course,  it  is  a  trifle,  but  it 
is  domestic,  and  that  gives  it  value  in  my  eyes,  and,  perhaps,  will 
in  yours  also. 

"Thus,  my  dear  Brother,  I  have  endeavored  to  filf  my  sheet  with 
news.  Such  a  gossiping  epistle  I  have  never  written  in  my  life  before, 
but  I  have  supposed  it  would  be  more  acceptable  than — what  it  would 
be  easier  to  write — disquisitions  on  matters  and  things  in  general. 
This  I  reserve  for  a  future  communication.  In  the  meantime,  let 
me  assure  you  that  the  arrival  of  your  letters  on  this  hill  have 
given  me  and  my  family  intense  delight ;  and  when  we  have  gone 
to  town,  we  have  had  another  feast  of  friendship  in  mere  sympathy 
with  the  joy  of  your  friends  there;  I  rejoice  that  you  are  now  in 
the  field  of  your  life's  labor.  Though  I  shall  not  give  up  the  hope 
of  seeing  you  again  in  this  world,  I  shall  look  upon  China  as  the 
scene  of  labors  and  usefulness  for  a  much  loved  friend,  to  the  end 
of  his  days ;  and  often  shall  my  prayers  ascend  to  Heaven,  that  he 
and  his  precious  wife  may  enjoy  constant  tokens  of  the  Divine 
favor,  and  be  eminently  blessed  in  their  work.  That  Heaven  may 
bless  and  prosper  you  both,  is  ever  the  prayer  of 

"  Your  friend  and  brother  in  Christ,     WILLIAM  SPARROW." 

"  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  FAIRFAX  Co.,  VA., 

"  December  12,  1846. 
"  KEY.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER  : — 

"  Yours  of  June  28  reached  me  a  short  time  ago,  and  I  sit  down 
to  answer  it,  regretting  that  you  have  seemed  to  be  so  much 
neglected  by  your  friends,  and  hoping  that  this  letter  will  reach  its 
destination.  I  have  written  to  Mr.  Irving,  on  the  subject  of  our 
letters,  and  will  write  again.  But  to  business ;  and  first,  about  the 
Mission.  What  are  the  feelings  of  our  students  in  reference  to 
China  just  now,  I  cannot  say.  I  think,  however,  there  are  some 
searchings  of  heart  amongst  them.  Last  night  we  had  a  mission- 
ary address  from  one  of  the  students,  which  was  calculated  to 
awaken  the  conscience.  In  our  prayers  we  remembered  all  mission- 
aries, and  especially  those  who  had  gone  from  this  institution,  and 
entreated  the  Lord  to  send  forth  more  from  the  same  place.  Ex- 
perience has  taught,  I  think,  that  we  should  leave  the  matter  much 
in  the  Lord's  hands.  If  the  person  is  not  self-moved,  i.  e.  by  the 
Spirit  of  God  in  the  person,  the  soul's  very  centre,  only  evil  can 
come  of  his  mission.  A  question.  I  have  a  horrible  idea  of  the 


182  MEMOIR    OF 

Chinese  language,  and  your  letters  and  your  wife's,  and  all  others, 
confirm  the  impression.  Such  being  the  case,  can  I  urge  those  to 
follow  you  who  have  not  more  than  an  average  gift  in  the  linguistic 
line  ?  Please  tell  me  how  those  of  small  abilities  in  that  way  get 
along,  and  to  what  extent  they  are  likely  to  be  useful.  I  think 
the  language  is  a  serious  objection  in  many  minds.  You  speak  of 

Drs. ,  and .     If  Dr. were  not  encumbered  with  a 

large  family,  I  think  he  would  go  to  China.  I  fear  he  is  not  doing 
well  in  his  missionary  church  in  Kichmond.  Suppose  you  write  to 

him.      E was  supposed  to  have  become  disengaged  a  short 

time  ago,  but  I  understand  the  engagement  has  been  renewed.  If 
it  had  not  been,  I  should  have  written  to  him.  You  cannot  spend 
your  spare  time  better  than  in  writing  to  individuals  who  you 
think  have  qualifications  for  the  work,  taking  good  heed  to  set  forth 
the  hardships  before  them,  as  did  the  Saviour  when  he  called  his 
disciples,  and  emphasizing  the  proper  missionary  Spirit.  Some 
may  be  touched  by  a  direct  appeal  who  would  not  feel  if  addressed 

as  in  a  crowd.     S would  make  a  noble  missionary,  unless  I'm 

much  mistaken.     I  thank  you  for  the  extract  from  ;  but  do 

tell  me,  how  a  people  using  an  instrument  calculated  to  make  and 
keep  them  ignorant,  should  retain  so  much  learning  (such  as  it  is),  and 
such  a  fondness  for  it.  The  Arabs,  having  good  horses,  are  famous 
equestrians ;  the  French,  having  a  light  and  tripping  language,  are 
conversational ;  the  Germans,  a  deep  and  expressive  one,  are  meta- 
physical ;  why,  with  a  language  which  is  a  hindrance  rather  than 
a  help,  are  the,  Chinese  so  learned  ?  Was  it  that,  being,  by  the  force 
of  accidental  circumstances,  started  in  that  way,  the  language,  by 
its  fixedness,  kept  them  to  it  ?  I  hope  your  miscellaneous  budget 
will  enlighten  me  on  this  and  many  other  topics.  At  all  events,  I 
shall  look  for  it  with  extreme  interest. 

"  As  to  the  great  controversy  in  our  Church,  I  can't  say  much 
now.  There  is  a  lull  of  the  storm,  and  will  probably  be  until  the 
meeting  of  the  next  General  Convention,  when  Bishop  Onderdonk's 
case,  and  that  of  the  General  Seminary,  will  come  up  for  decision. 
In  the  meantime,  some  four  of  our  clergy  have  gone  to  Rome,  and 
some  have  published  their  reasons  for  so  doing.  In  consequence, 
there  is  much  condemnation  of  Puseyism  in  certain  quarters,  but 
alas,  many  that  'judge  do  the  same  things.'  The  leaven  is  work- 
ing in  the  mass,  and  in  my  opinion  there  are  to  be  yet  great  convul- 
sions in  our  Church  before  it  is  eradicated.  Dr.  Seabury  goes  on  as 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  183 

ever.  He  and  his  correspondents  are  rabid  in  their  language,  and 
yet  men  will  have  it  so,  as  they  show  by  the  support  of  their  sub- 
scriptions. Our  troubles,  of  course,  have  their  chief  root  in  sin ; 
but  after  that,  in  error  and  misapprehension.  What  /  deem  the 
master  error,  you  well  know ;  it  is,  in  one  word,  a  sacerdotal  char- 
acter in  the  clergy.  Till  we  are  rid  of  that  we  shall  never  have 
peace. 

"Bessie  and  William  are  studying  German  with  me.  He  is 
decidedly  a  bright  boy,  but,  like  myself,  is  indolent.  Frances  stud- 
ies French  with  me,  and  has  made  considerable  progress.  I  have 
never  in  my  life  done  so  much  in  my  family.  My  labors  in  the 
Seminary  are  also  more  abundant,  and  thus  far  I  have  written 
a  good  deal,  this  term,  for  the  pulpit.  I  was  strongly  tempted 
to  answer  Dr.  M.'s  review  of  my  sermon,  but  did  not.*  Dear 
Brother,  you  wish  to  see  me  in  the  press  ;  alas,  you  know  not  how 
I  would  be  oppressed.  With  my  poor  health,  it  would  be  madness 
to  assume  the  burden  and  responsibility  of  publication.  Discour- 
agement would  absolutely  paralyze  my  mind,  and  that  I  must 
expect  if  I  step  down  into  the  arena  of  authorship.  The  most  I 
ever  expect  to  do  is  to  write  some  lectures  for  my  classes.  They 
lately  sent  a  deputation  to  me  to  that  effect,  and  though  it  was 
meant  to  be  complimentary,  it  has  alarmed  me,  lest  I  may  have  been 
neglecting  duty.  I  endeavor  to  make  my  sermons  lectures;  at 
least,  '  sermons  to  the  students.' 

"Let  me  turn  the  tables.  If  you  should  have  leisure,  would  it 
not  be  well  to  plan  some  publication  about  China,  its  language, 
institutions,  etc.  It  would  have  a  happy  effect  in  calling  attention 
to  the  mission,  and  literary  men  might  be  benefited  and  pleased. 
For  the  sake  of  this  and  every  other  good  work  in  which  you  may 
be  engaged,  I  rejoice  that  your  sight  is  so  much  improved,  and 
pray  that  it  may  continue  to  improve;  and,  now,  a  word  to  your 
better  half.  Tell  her  we  are  all  delighted  to  learn  that  she  has 
gone  to  housekeeping,  arid  that  I  trust  she  has  not  a  captious 
overseer  to  complain  when  the  butter  is  not  fresh,  etc.  Tell  her, 
also,  that  I  was  gratified  with  the  perusal  of  her  letter  to  the  bishop, 
and  that  there  is  a  presbyter  in  Virginia,  who,  with  his  family, 
would  be  rejoiced  to  receive  a  letter  whenever  it  might  not  interfere 
with  important  matters.  I  put  this  exception  because  I  conceive 

*  That  on  "  Love  Among  Christians,"  preached  at  the  Convention,  in  Fredericks- 


184  MEMOIR    OF 

that  she  is  already  overburdened  with  letter  writing.  For  this 
reason,  though  I  might,  I  do  not  plead  her  promise  to  write  me 
once.  It  was  extorted  at  a  moment  when  no  promise  but  one 
could  with  propriety  be  considered  binding,  that  one  absorbing  all 
the  rest!  I  have  been  up  stairs  to  announce  that  I  am  writing,  and 
have  come  down  loaded  with  messages  to  Mrs.  S.  and  yourself. 
Truly  our  heart's  desire  and  prayer  is  that  grace,  mercy  and  peace 
may  ever  rest  upon  you  both. 

"  Ever  your  friend  and  brother  in  Christ, 

"WILLIAM  SPARROW." 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  FAIRFAX  COUNTY,  VA., 

"August  31st,  1847. 
"VERY  DEAR  BROTHER: — 

"  For  your  kind  remembrances  of  us,  and  prompt  correspondence, 
accept  the  hearty  acknowledgments  of  a  large  and  affectionate 
family.  We  never  cease  to  think  of  you  and  Mrs.  S.,  and  since 
you  have  become  parents,  of  your  little  one,  and  not  only  to  think 
but  also  to  pray  that  Heaven's  choicest  blessing  may  ever  abund- 
antly rest  on  you  all.  We  have  received  not  only  your  letters,  but 
also  your  presents.  They  have  been  very  highly  prized,  as  a 
memorial  of  true  friendship,  and  as  a  means  of  instruction.  I  have 
often  exhibited  them  and  talked  about  them,  so  that  I  could  almost 
deliver  a  lecture  on  the  Chinese  language  and  customs. 

"In  regard  to  the  mission,  it  does,  indeed,  seem  to  be  sorely 
tried.  About  the  bishop,  we  are  all  extremely  anxious,  and  pray 
that  it  may  be  the  Lord's  will  to  spare  him.  Whatever  be  the 
result,  it  is  delightful  to  know  that,  however  weak  in  body,  he 
is  strong  in  spirit.  I  pray  that  Mr.  S.,  of  whom  I  know  nothing, 
may  be  a  man  after  the  Bishop's  own  heart,  and  ready  and  able  to 
co-operate  with  you  in  every  good  work.  We  have  in  the  Semi- 
nary, of  one  year's  standing,  a  son  of  Dr.  Keith,  his  younger  son, 
who  proposes  joining  you  when  he  has  completed  his  studies.  He 
has  spoken  of  it  only  to  me,  I  believe,  and  does  not  wish  it  to  be 
generally  known.  He  is  a  young  man  of  real  ability  and  great 
application  in  study.  His  forte  is  language.  And  should  the  Lord 
mature,  sanctify,  and  consummate  his  present  purpose,  doubtless,  he 
will  be  an  able  assistant,  as  a  translator,  at  least.  We  have  one 
young  man  in  the  Seminary,  Hoffman,  whom  I  should  like  to  see 
go  to  China.  Though  not  college  bred,  he  has  a  good  education, 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,  D.  D.  185 

is  a  hard  student,  has  good  talents,  is  most  systematic,  energetic 
and  persevering,  and  for  sweetness  of  character  and  untiring  bene- 
ficence surpasses  anything  I  have  ever  known.  He  thinks  of 
Africa.  He  will  be  in  the  senior  class,  coming  term. 

"The  Seminary  goes  on  about  as  usual.  Last  year  I  taught 
more  than  at  any  previous  period,  and  perhaps  with  less  deficiency. 
I  teach  in  the  family,  and  that  consumes  time  and  strength.  In 
looking  forward  to  the  next  year,  my  heart  fails.  The  students, 
through  a  committee,  not  meaning  it  for  a  censure,  just  before  our 
commencement,  made  a  request  that  I  would  deliver  some  formal 
lectures.  Though  they  did  not  intend  it,  it  oppressed  me  much,  as 
the  same  request  was  made  the  previous  year.  I  have  neither 
time,  nor  strength,  nor  confidence  for  the  task. 

"At  our  commencement  I  delivered  an  address  on  the  difficult 
topic  of  subscription  to  the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  and  the  trustees 
requested  its  publication,  especially  Bishop  Meade.  But  I  cannot 
be  satisfied  that  it  is  wise  to  comply.  Thus,  you  see,  I  am  tortured, 
as  of  old. 

"Dr.  Brooke  has  left  Cincinnati,  and,  in  an  informal  way,  I  have 
been  invited  to  his  place,  but  shall  not  go.  A  year  ago,  when  the 
Doctor  threatened  the  same  step,  brother  Wing  gave  me  to  under- 
stand that  the  Bishop  and  the  Cincinnatians  all  wished  it,  and 
asked  my  assent  to  the  proposition,  but  then,  also,  I  declined.  I 
begin  to  think  I  am  too  old  to  transplant,  though  I  do  long  for  a 
place  which  may  be  the  home  of  my  family  when  I  am  taken  away. 

"I  have  spent  five  weeks  with  W.  and  S.,  in  the  Valley  of  Vir- 
ginia. It  was  a  most  delightful  time.  One  half  of  it,  we  were 
under  the  direction  of  Bishop  Meade,  who  laid  himself  out  to  make 
our  trip  agreeable.  I  attended  three  Associations,  and  in  thirty- 
four  days  preached  sixteen  times.  We  saw  a  great  many  good 
people.  I  am  thinking  of  starting  off,  in  a  few  days,  for  Ohio,  my 
first  visit  since  my  removal.  Mrs.  Sparrow  is  the  mover,  and  what 
she  sets  herself  to  do  with  me  she  usually  effects.  I  had  not  the  most 
distant  thought  of  it  two  days  ago.  If  I  go  I  shall  hope  to  be  at 
the  Convention  at  Louisville.  The  General  Convention  will  be  an 
exciting  scene ;  the  Lord  grant  not  a  disgraceful  one.  Dr.  Seabury 
and  his  men  are  bent  on  the  restoration  of  Bishop  Onderdonk. 
But  they  cannot  succeed. 

"  This  letter  would  have  been  addressed  to  Mrs.  Syle,  if  your  last 
had  not  stepped  in  between.  Tell  her  how  gratified  I  am  that  she 


186  MEMOIR    OF 

did  not  forget  her  promise  of  writing,  and  that  I  shall  not  forget 
mine,  of  replying.  You  may,  also,  assure  her  that  I  shall  not 
gibbet  her  letter  before  the  public.  At  the  same  time  it  is  well  for 
the  wife  of  a  Missionary  to  be  as  callous  in  reference  to  all  such 
matters  as  possible.  When  deep  interest  is  taken  in  the  Mis- 
sion, and  great  pleasure  felt  in  receiving  communications  from  the 
Missionaries,  persons  will  feel  an  instinctive  temptation  to  let  others 
participate  in  the  joy.  The  judgment,  also,  may  suggest  that  it 
may  prove  edifying  as  well  as  pleasant  to  others.  I  cannot  but 
rejoice  that  you  both  are  where  you  are.  I  feel  great  confidence 
that  it  is  the  Lord  who  sent  you  to  China,  and  think  He  has  a  great 
work  for  you  to  do.  May  the  Lord  preserve  your  lives,  and  give 
you  a  hand  and  heart  for  all  good  enterprises  and  labors.  All  here, 
thank  God,  are  in  pretty  good  health,  and  join  in  earnest  good 
wishes  to  you  and  Mrs.  S.  Your  remembrance  of  me  on  my  birth- 
day touched  my  heart.  May  the  Lord  ever  remember,  for  good, 
you  and  yours. 

"Ever  your  friend  and  brother,  W.  SPARROW." 


WILLIAM    SPARROW.   D.  D.  187 


CHAPTER   VI. 

VISIT  TO  EUROPE,  AND  WORK  OF  NEXT  TWELVE  YEARS. 

The  period  of  the  present  chapter,  from  the  close  of  session, 
June,  1848,  till  the  beginning  of  the  war,  and  the  temporary  sus- 
pension of  the  Seminary,  May,  1861,  is  one  but  little  diversified  as 
to  incident  of  special  character.  The  previous  seven  years  of  resi- 
dence in  Virginia,  and  the  intimate  relations  into  which,  during 
this  time,  Dr.  Sparrow  had  been  brought  with  the  clergy  and  laity 
of  the  Diocese,  had  enabled  him  to  identify  himself  with  its  inter- 
ests and  affairs,  as  he  had  formerly  with  those  of  Ohio.  His 
pupils,  year  after  year,  were  filling  the  parishes,  and  thus  strengthen- 
ing his  connections,  and  increasing  his  influence  in  every  movement 
of  Diocesan  effort  and  advancement.  Most  grateful  were  his 
reunions  with  those  pupils,  both  to  them  and  to  himself,  sometimes 
in  his  occasional  coveted  visits  to  their  field  of  labor,  but  more 
ordinarily  at  the  Annual  Conventions,  and  at  the  Commencements 
at  the  Seminary.  The  position  which  he  had  occupied  from  Ohio, 
as  delegate  to  the  General  Convention,  was  soon  again  assigned 
him  by  the  Convention  of  Virginia,  and  retained  until  the  General 
Convention  of  1868.  His  affection  for  his  old  friends,  and  his 
interest  in  old  associations,  did  not,  indeed,  pass  away ;  and  we  find 
that  there  was  a  strong  response  of  feeling,  on  his  part,  to  another 
call,  given  during  this  period,  to  return  to  Gambier,  and  resume 
the  duties  of  his  former  position.  That  question  settled,  he  turned 
to  his  peculiar  task,  and  session  after  session  employed  himself  in 
training  his  pupils  for  their  work.  The  vacation  with  which  this 
period  begins,  1848,  was  spent  mostly  in  Europe.  It  had  been  ten 
years  since  he  had  last  visited  his  friends  and  relatives  in  the  locali- 
ties of  childhood  and  youth,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  and 
it  would  seem  to  have  been  to  him  an  occasion  of  great  enjoyment. 
As  mentioned  in  the  close  of  the  last  chapter,  the  brief  autobio- 
graphical sketch  given  in  the  opening  of  our  narrative  was  written 
at  sea,  during  this  trip,  on  his  way  to  Europe,  to  the  scenes  of  the 
events  which  he  was  describing.  It  was  thirty-one  years  since  his 
first  departure,  as  a  youth  of  sixteen,  from  Ireland,  and  we  may 


188  MEMOIR    OF 

easily  understand  the  emotion  which  the  changes  of  the  present, 
and  the  remembered  incidents  and  associations  of  the  past,  would 
naturally  produce.  It  is  greatly  to  be  regretted  that  more  of  his 
correspondence  during  that  journey,  and  of  the  one  ten  years  be- 
fore, has  not  been  preserved.  We  are  not  able  to  read  the  account 
as  he  alone  could  have  given  it,  and  as  he  doubtless  did  give  it,  of 
those  summers'  tours  of  1838  and  1848,  especially  the  portions  of 
them  devoted  to  the  scenes  and  associations  of  early  boyhood.  "  I 
remember,"  says  one  of  his  children,  "  my  extravagant  joy  at  his 
return ;  my  being  allowed  to  sit  up  till  eleven  o'clock  to  see  him  (as 
he  came  from  Washington  in  our  carriage,  which  was  sent  for  him). 
But  I  was  too  young  for  any  definite  memory  of  that  period." 

"I  remember  perfectly,"  is  the  communication  from  one  who  was 
then  an  inmate  in  the  Doctor's  family,  Miss  Smith,  "  his  second 
visit  to  Europe,  but  nothing  of  the  minutiae  of  it.  The  greatest 
pleasure  he  seemed  to  have  had  was  during  the  time  passed  in  Ire- 
land, among  his  relations.  He  spoke  most  enthusiastically  of  the 
cordial  reception  they  gave  him,  particularly  his  three  aunts, 
sisters  to  his  mother.  He  appeared  to  think  himself  quite  spoiled 
by  them  for  ordinary  civility;  for  they  went  back -to  his  boyhood, 
appearing  to  forget  the  years  that  had  intervened,  and  petted  and 
caressed  him  as  they  had  been  used  to  do.  It  was  in  summer,  and 
they  were  at  their  country  home,  where  he  had  passed  so  many 
happy  hours  from  his  fifth  to  his  sixteenth  years.  His  whole  face 
was  lit  up  when  he  spoke  of  his  rambles  over  familiar  ground,  and 
how,  in  memory,  he  lived  his  boyhood  over  again.  Those  who  knew 
him  but  slightly  would  have  been  surprised  to  find  the  depth  and 
warmth  of  feeling  evinced  in  speaking  of  this  visit  to  Ireland.  He 
had  the  most  tender  regard  for  his  mother,  and  being  with  her  rela- 
tives seemed  to  have  revived  pleasant  memories  of  her. 

"  He  went  to  the  Continent,  but,  as  far  as  I  can  remember,  did 
not  go  to  Italy  on  that  trip.  He  was  in  France,  in  Germany,  and 
I  think  went  to  Switzerland.  Want  of  time,  I  suppose,  prevented 
a  more  protracted  journey,  as  he  went  to  be  absent  only  the  vaca- 
tion. The  larger  part  of  the  time  was  passed  in  Great-  Britain. 
He  took  letters  from  clergymen  to  prominent  persons,  many  of 
whom  were  acquainted  with  his  brother-in-law,  Bishop  Chase,  who 
was  favorably  known  in  England.  In  this  way  he  procured  a 
ticket  to  the  Queen's  Chapel.  Not  very  long  after  his  return  he 
attended  a  Convocation  in  one  of  the  Counties  near  the  Seminary, 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  189 

and  in  quite  a  large  company  spoke  of  this  privilege,  for  such  he 
considered  it.  There  was  quite  a  number  of  young  ladies  present, 
many  of  whom  were  very  gaily  attired.  '  Young  ladies,'  said  he, 
addressing  himself  te  that  part  of  the  company  ,J  I  was  most  favor- 
ably impressed  with  the  Queen,  who  was  seated  beside  her  mother, 
the  Duchess  of  Kent,  and  the  contrast  in  their  deportment  was 
striking.  The  mother  talked  and  behaved  most  irreverently,  while 
Victoria's  manner  was  most  exemplary.'  He  then  went  on  to  say, 
that  when  the  Queen  came  out  and  knelt  on  a  cushion  while  the 
special  prayer  for  herself  was  read,  he  was  struck  with  the  plain 
simplicity  of  her  dress.  Knowing  him  so  well,  I  was  amused  at 
the  way  he  brought  this  in ;  as  usual,  I  was  plainly  attired,  so  did 
not  take  the  reproof.  'The  Queen  had  on  a  simple  white  muslin, 
without  an  ornament,  except  the  crown,  which  she  was  called  upon 
to  wear  on  that  occasion.'  He  made  no  remark  on  the  preacher  or 
his  performance,  that  I  remember." 

Within  the  next  four  years  there  were  several  efforts  made  to 
induce  him  to  change  his  field  of  labor.  One  of  these  was  an  invita- 
tion to  the  rectorship  of  St.  Paul's,  Eichmond.  "  We  were  all  alarmed," 
writes  Dr.  May,  in  February,  1850,  "some  time  ago,  at  the  prospect 
of  Dr.  Sparrow's  going  to  Eichmond,  as  successor  to  Mr.  Norwood. 
He  seemed  much  inclined  to  go;  the  question  with  him  being  nar- 
rowed down  to  one  of  justice  to  his  family,  and,  indeed,  as  he  said, 
to  his  creditors.  But  he  yielded  to  the  representations  of  his 
friends."  "At  one  time,"  says  Dr.  May  again,  a  year  later,  April 
17,  1851,  "we  feared  lest  Dr.  Sparrow  might  be  taken  from  us. 
He  was  importuned  to  return  to  Kenyon.  Mrs.  Sparrow,  who 
feared  for  his  health,  was  on  our  side,  and  we  prevailed.  He  ought 
never  to  think  of  leaving  us."  Not  very  long  after,  again,  during 
the  next  year,  1852,  the  question  of  the  Assistantship  of  Trinity 
Church,  Boston,  with  Bishop  Eastburn,  was  pressed  upon  his  con- 
sideration. These  propositions  were  made  in  the  most  flattering 
manner,  and  there  were  pressing  reasons  why  they  should  be  care- 
fully considered.  Some  of  those  reasons  will  appear  in  the  corres- 
pondence which  follows.  The  invitation  to  return  to  Gambier  seems 
to  have  been  extended  to  hifti  during  a  visit  made  by  him  to  Ohio. 
During  this  visit,  the  second  since  he  had  left  Gambier,  in  1841,  he 
was  present  at  the  Diocesan  Convention,  meeting  there  with  many 
of  his  old  friends,  and  visiting  different  localities,  the  scenes  of  his 
early  Missionary  labors.  The  General  Convention,  of  which  he  was 


190  MEMOIR    OF 

a  member,  met  that  year,  1850,  in  Cincinnati.  After  its  adjourn- 
ment, he  made  a  visit  to  New  Orleans,  going  from  thence  to  Mobile, 
and  taking  the  route  by  Charleston  and  Richmond  home.  This 
trip,  particularly  the  portion  of  it  on  the  Mississippi,  was  one  of 
which  he  had  vivid  recollections,  and  in  after  life  it  was  quite 
amusing  to  hear  his  descriptions  of  some  of  his  fellow  passengers. 
Once,  during  the  trip,  there  was  an  alarm,  in  the  middle  of  the 
night,  of  fire  or  collision,  and  he  was  roused  by  a  fellow  passenger 
rushing  to  the  upper  deck  for  safety,  whom  he  speedily  followed. 
His  decided  impression,  more  than  once  expressed,  was,  that  the 
danger  of  crossing  the  Atlantic  and  that  of  going  down  the  Mis- 
sissippi were  not  to  be  thought  of  in  comparison,  so  much  greater 
were  the  risks  of  the  latter.  During  a  part  of  the  journey,  Dr. 
Sparrow  was  brought  into  closer  acquaintanceship  with  Bishop 
Otey,  of  Tennessee,  than  at  any  former  period.  And  he  loved  to 
speak  of  the  conversations  on  subjects  of  practical  religion  which 
they  held  together,  and  from  which  he  received  edification  and 
enjoyment.  With  some  other  members  of  the  house  of  Bishops,  as 
the  letters  following  will  show,  he  did  not  find  the  same  enjoyment; 
especially  with  one  whose  peculiar  gift  seemed  to  be  that  of  know- 
ing, and  expatiating  upon,  the  ages,  and  varieties,  and  qualities,  of 
the  different  kinds  of  wine  imported  into,  and  used  in,  this  country ! 
There  were  some  others,  also,  whose  views  upon  certain  questions 
he  found,  upon  comparison,  to  correspond  with  those  of  Romish 
Bishops,  traveling  with  them  on  the  same  boat.  The  letters  fol- 
lowing, descriptive  of  this  tour,  and  the  events  in  Ohio  preceding, 
are  here  given,  with  others,  written  before  and  after,  to  the  same 
and  other  correspondents.  Portions  of  this  correspondence  will 
throw  light  upon  the  biography  of  this  period,  not  afforded  by  the 
narrative.  Several  will  be  recognized  as  to  pupils  of  an  earlier 
date.  There  is  scarcely  a  page  which  does  not  exhibit  the  charac- 
teristics of  the  writer ;  especially  that  one  which  constituted  the 
peculiar  charm  of  his  society,  his  geniality,  the  kindly  spirit  which 
ever  delighted  to  make  others  cheerful  and  happy. 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINAKY,  FAIRFAX  COUNTY,  VA., 

"February  8,  1849. 
"  REV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER  : — 

^  "  I  am  reminded  of  my  duty  to  you  and  your  letter,  by  the  receipt 
of  one  by  Dr.  B.     As  I  cannot,  Caesar  or  Napoleon-like,  answer 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  191 

both  together,  I  must  take  them  on  what  Johnson  or  Parr  would 
call,  the  'molar  principle,'  of  'first  come  first  served.' 

"In  regard  to ,  I  say  this  much.  He  is  in  an  important 

position,  to  which  he  is  admirably  adapted,  and  it  would  be  wrong 
to  disturb  him.  His  talents,  though  so  admirably  adapted  to  his 
present  post,  might  not  suit  so  well  at  the  head  of  a  college.  He 
never  took  a  regular  degree,  though  he  is  worthy  of  one.  Lastly,  I 
am  persuaded  he  would  not,  and  could  not,  accept. 

"To  venture  the  suggestion  of  any  other  name,  is  almost  too 
much  for  my  nerves.  So  many,  as  Jefferson  Davis  said  to  Whiting, 
have  been  weighed  in  the  balances  of  Kenyon  College,  and  found 
wanting  (myself  almost  included,  for  it  would  seem  that  I  escaped 
only  with  the  skin  of  my  teeth),  that  I  am  afraid  to  risk  a  judg- 
ment, or  jeopardize  a  friend.  To  lessen  my  risk  by  multiplying  my 
number  out  of  which  you  must  select,  let  me  name  three,  any  one 
of  whom,  I  do  not  say  would  but  may  succeed.  Kenyon  might 

prosper  in  the  hands  of  either  of  these  gentlemen.  is  a 

man  of  very  superior  ability,  of  great  self-control,  of  a  warm  heart, 

and  a  soul  as  big  as  the  universe..  is  a  man  of  scholarship 

and  tact,  and  an  attractiveness  that  acts  like  a  charm.  is 

a  man  of  sense,  a  great  deal  of  information,  and  great  loveliness  of 
character.  Every  one  of  them  would  strive  for  the  spiritual  as 
well  as  the  intellectual  improvement  of  the  young  men  committed  to 
their  charge.  The  second,  I  suppose,  would  be  the  best  preacher. 
Further  your  deponent  saith  not. 

"The  spirit  which  Mr.  B.  has  manifested  is  truly  admirable.  If 
he  leaves  Kenyon,  I  hope  he  may  find  .an  agreeable  position  in  its 
stead.  Truly,  it  would  be  a  windfall  if  you  can  get  a  gratuitous 
professor  of  languages.  How  my  heart  rejoices  that  brother  Den- 
nison  is  back  again,  and  that  he  is  giving  so  much  satisfaction. 
Remember  me  most  affectionately  to  him,  and  tell  him,  if  Provi- 
dence did  not  order  it  otherwise,  it  would  afford  me  real  delight  to 
find  myself  once  more  planted  between  you  and  him,  two  of  my 
oldest,  truest,  and  most  cherished  friends.  I  often  remember  Ken- 
yon in  my  prayers,  on  its  own  account;  now  I  may  do  it  'for  my 
brethren  and  companions'  sake,'  with  new  emphasis. 

"So  you  are  returned  to  town.  Alas,  it  has  always  been  my  lot 
to  live  in  the  country,  though  vastly  preferring  the  city.  Happily, 
I  have  a  city  in  view,  or  rather,  two  or  three  of  them.  I  have  the 
sight  of  them  with  my  eyes  every  day ;  and  what  is  a  little  better, 


192  MEMOIR    OF 

any  day,  in  two  hours,  I  may  tread  their  streets.  But  to  me,  at 
my  stage  of  progress  in  life,  after  all,  these  things  are  small  things, 
mere  bagatelles.  The  great  thing  is,  not  to  live  here  or  there,  but  to 
have  God's  gracious  presence,  and  so  to  be  doing  good,  and  getting 
good — good  that  will  last  forever. 

"  My  family  desire  to  be  remembered  to  Mrs.  W.  Can't  you 
bring  her  on  to  see  us  next  summer?  I  have  straitened  myself  by 
my  trip  to  Europe,  so  that  I  shall  have  to  stay  at  home  for  some 
time. 

"  Your  friend  and  brother,  WILLIAM  SPARROW, 

"Rev.  Mr.  T.  C.  Wing." 

To  THE  SAME. 

"  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  FAIRFAX  Co.,  VA., 

"June  2,  1849. 
"  KEY.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER  : — 

"  I  ought  to  have  written  you  long  ago,  and  therefore  send  an 
apology  '  with  these  presents.'  I  was  the  less  prompt  to  write 
because  I  supposed  that  my  mere  silence  would  show  you  how  I 
stand  in  relation  to  the  business  part  of  your  letter.  In  ordinary 
cases,  silence  is  supposed  to  give  consent ;  but  in  the  present  one, 
in  which  your  old  friendship  and  partiality  shine  out  in  such  per- 
severing lustre,  and  in  which  nothing  could,  with  propriety,  be 
done  till  I  had  spoken,  it  was  enough  for  me  simply  to  say  nothing. 

"  There  are  many  reasons  why  I  should  like  to  return  to  the  West; 
but  I  cannot  stir  till  it  is  made  my  indubitable  duty  so  to  do, 
'  Whatsoever  is  not  of  faith '  with  me,  in  this  matter,  would  be 
emphatically  sin.  I  have  so  many  dependent  on  me,  my  health  is 
so  frail,  and  the  experience  of  life  has  so  much  dampened  my  ardor, 
that  I  am  afraid  to  stir  an  inch  except  at  the  dear  call  of  duty, 
and  I  cannot  perceive  that  I  have  that  in  the  present  instance. 

"I  hope  that  by  this  time  you  begin  to  see  your  way  clearer  in. 
regard  to  Kenyon.  I  hope  Alexander,  the  coppersmith,  will  do  you 
no  harm.  If  the  College  could  get  along  without  the  sale  of  the 
lands,  I  should  be  sorry  to  see  them  sold.  But  when  it  is  sale  or 
ruin,  I  cannot  see  how  any  one  can  throw  obstacles  in  the  way. 
Who  are  the  lawyers  advising?  Is  their  legal  opinion  respected  by 
judges? 

"  Mrs.  Sparrow  is  at  this  time  enjoying  herself  much ;  Mrs.  Kip 
is  with  her.  Since  I  began  this  letter,  I  have  thought  that  I  should 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  193 

be  exceedingly  pleased  to  have  two  or  three  days'  talk  with  you. 
But  if  we  should  meet,  we  could  not  talk  as  Mrs.  Sparrow  and  her 
sister  do,  or  as  Mrs.  Sparrow  and  Mrs.  Wing  would,  if  they  should 
have  an  interview.  The  gift  of  speech  is  much  more  enjoyed  by 
women  than  by  men.  Tell  Mrs.  "W.  this  is  not  meant  as  a  sarcasm, 
but  as  a  compliment.  We  are  all,  thank  God,  in  usual  health, 
which,  however,  with  some  of  us,  is  not  very  good.  Mrs.  S.  and 
the  children  send  love  to  Mrs.  W.  and  her  flock.  We  were  remark- 
ing this  morning,  that  everybody  here  sends  love  to  everybody ;  and 
therefore,  Mrs.  S.  has  added  to  me  in  giving  this  commission  :  '  it 
is  real  love  here.'  Do  be  forgiving,  and  write  me  soon  about  your 
family  and  the  College.  Most  truly, 

"  Your  friend  and  brother  in  Christ,      WILLIAM  SPARROW." 

"  To  KEY.  E.  H.  CANFIELD  :— 

"  I  suppose,  in  New  York,  you  find  your  hands  full  of  work.  In 
your  city,  the  great  Babylon  of  the  Western  Hemisphere,  there  is 
enough  to  do,  in  all  reason,  for  every  one  of  God's  people  and  min- 
isters, and  that  right  at  the  door.  At  first,  I  suppose  you  will  be 
pretty  much  confined  to  your  parish  until  it  is  well  built  up,  and 
you  have  established  yourself  firmly  in  the  confidence  and  affection 
of  your  people;  and  then  you  will  have  to  lend  a  hand  in  more 
general  operations,  in  committees,  on  platforms,  etc.  Wherever  you 
labor,  and  whatever  you  undertake,  may  the  Lord  be  with  you  and 
sustain  you. 

"  As  to  matters  here,  I  do  not  think  of  anything  new  to  communi- 
cate. We  are  a  statu  quo  people,  anti-movement  conservatives. 
The  secular  Alexandria  is  showing  great  signs  of  life,  in  consequence 
of  the  commencement  of  a  railroad,  and  the  prospect  of  the  com- 
pletion of  the  canal  to  Cumberland.  But  they  have  not  yet  paved 
King  Street! 

"  We  are  expecting  Bishop  Meade  here,  to  deliver  his  annual 
lectures,  next  Wednesday.  What  a  useful  man  he  is !  If  all  our 
Bishops  were  like  him,  how  would  the  Episcopal  Church  prosper. 
He  will  remain  until  next  month,  when  the  Convention  meets  in 
Alexandria. 

"  April  17,  1850." 

To  THE  SAME. 

"I  promised  to  write  you  during  my  journey.     0,  that  I  had 
your  gift  of  gathering  up  the  news.     But  we  must  be  contented 
13 


194  MEMOIR    OP 

with  our  lot,  and  be  thankful  for  what  is  given,  and  not  envious  for 
what  is  withheld. 

"  Delaware  I  have  not  been  able  to  visit,  though  I  have  seen 
some  Delaware  friends,  Mr.  H.  and  Mrs.  L.,  at  Dayton;  but  I  did 
little  more  than  see  them,  because  of  an  attack  of  sickness,  which 
kept  me  most  of  the  time  in  my  room.  In  Springfield,  however,  I 
saw  Mr.  P.,  and  had  half  an  hour's  talk  with  him,  and  told  all 
about  you,  and  learned  what  I  could  about  him  and  his  wife.  Her, 
to  my  disappointment,  I  did  not  see.  Many  friends  inquired  about 
you  and  yours  most  kindly. 

"The  Convention  was  peaceful  and  pleasant.  On  Tuesday  I 
returned  to  this  place,  not  caring  to  be  present  at  the  rare  show  of 
the  opening  of  the  General  Convention.  Besides,  I  wanted  to  spend 
a  little  more  time  with  my  friends  here.  I  return  to-day,  South, 
and  hope  to  reach  Cincinnati  by  nine  o'clock  to-night. 

"  When  at  Dayton,  I  received  a  formal  invitation  from  the  Trus- 
tees, by  unanimous  vote,  to  the  Presidency  of  Kenyon  College,  $1200 
per  annum,  and  the  expense  of  removal.  Besides  this,  the  clerical 
members  of  the  association  drew  up  a  paper  expressive  of  their  feel- 
ings, and  pledging  themselves  to  support  me  in  the  position  thus 
offered  me.  I  have  not  yet  responded,  but  soon  shall.  Never  was 
I  in  greater  perplexity,  for  everybody  I  meet,  except  my  own 
kindred,  expresses  himself  in  the  same  way.  The  great  argument 
is,  that  to  secure  my  services,  folk  are  ready  to  help  the  college, 
but  of  strangers  they  are  distrustful.  May  the  Lord  in  mercy 
guide  to  a  right  decision.  Their  conduct  toward  me  is  very  natter- 
ing, and  calculated  to  make  me  think  of  myself  more  highly  than 
I  ought  to  think;  but,  in  truth,  I  am  rather  oppressed  than  elevated 
by  it.  It  is  a  vital  matter  to  me  and  to  my  family,  if  to  nobody 
else. 

"  If  you  should  feel  at  leisure  to  repay  this  meagre  note  with  one 
of  your  robust  epistles,  telling  me  all  about  you  and  yours,  and 
matters  and  things  in  general,  New  York  ecclesiastical  politics  and 
measures,  I  will  feel  much  obliged  to  you.  I  still  think  I  shall  go 
down  the  Mississippi. 

"  Columbus,  Oct.  3,  1850." 

To  THE  SAME. 

"After  the  Convention  adjourned,  I  went  down  the  Ohio  and 
Mississippi  rivers  to  New  Orleans,  and  thence  to  Mobile,  Augusta, 


WILLIAM    SPARKOW,   D.  D.  195 

Charleston,  Wilmington,  and  Richmond,  home.  I  spent  one 
Sunday  in  Louisville,  another  on  the  river,  a  third  at  Natchez,  a 
fourth  at  Vicksburg,  a  fifth  at  Memphis,  a  sixth  at  Oxford,  a 
seventh  at  Natchez  again,  an  eighth  at  New  Orleans,  a  ninth  in 
Augusta,  and  by  Saturday,  here.  I  have  preached  every  Sunday 
since  I  left  home,  except  one  of  the  two  Sundays  at  the  General 
Convention,  when  I  wished  to  be  a  hearer.  I  have  mingled  with 
all  sorts,  and  sizes,  and  descriptions  of  men,  clerical  and  lay,  and 
that,  too,  not  from  our  own  Church  only.  Two  days  I  spent  on 
board  a  boat,  with  Archbishop  Purcell,  and  Bishops  Spaulding  and 
Lanzy,  of  the  Romish  Church !  I  have  had  with  them  all  much 
intercourse,  and  if  I  have  learned  nothing  else,  have  learned  some- 
thing of  that  'mystery  of  iniquity'  which,  in  the  Apostles'  day, 
had  begun  already  to  work.  The  close  blood  relationship  between 
Romanism  and  Puseyism,  yes,  and  High-Churchism,  too,  was  made 
manifest  to  my  eyes.  The  doctrine  of  the  Apostolical  Succession, 
as  commonly  taught,  is  the  back  bone  of  both  systems.  Both  alike 
resolve  the  being  of  a  Church  into  it.  Those  that  have  it,  no  mat- 
ter how  heretical  (I  had  the  statement  alike  from  a  Catholic  and  a 
Protestant  Bishop),  are  a  Church;  those  who  have  it  not,  no  matter 
how  orthodox,  and  pious,  and  outwardly  regular,  are  no  Church. 
Good  Lord  deliver  me  from  such  a  caricature  of  the  simple  and 
spiritual  Gospel  of  Christ. 

"You  know  of  the  action  of  the  Ohio  Convention  at  Dayton. 
There  were  so  many  peculiarities  in  the  case,  too  tedious  to  men- 
tion, that  I  was  afraid  I  should  be  neglecting  a  call  of  duty.  How- 
ever, here  I  am,  and  the  Lord  grant  I  may  never  repent  of  my 
determination. 

"Ohio  is  wonderfully  improved  since  I  left  it,  and  the  next  five 
years  will  improve  it  yet  more.  I  think  the  set  time  for  the  pros- 
perity of  Kenyon  College  has  come.  Episcopalians  are  tired  and 
ashamed  of  neglecting  it,  and  they  have  grown  strong  enough  to 
maintain  it  handsomely.  If  only  sure  of  health,  I  feel  that  I  could 
build  it  up;  and  it  would  be  a  good  work,  something  to  look  back 
upon  with  pleasure !  Then  again,  it  would  be  a  fine  place  for  the 
education  of  my  boys,  and  for  settling  them  in  business  when  their 
education  was  completed.  The  salary  they  offered  me,  too,  was 
really  better  than  I  get  here.  But  why  do  I  speak  thus?  I  had 
already  quit  the  topic. 

"  I  thank  you  for  the  information  about  your  Convention.   Truly, 


196  MEMOIR    OF 

you  are  in  a  chaotic  state.  May  the  Spirit  of  God  brood  upon  the 
face  of  the  deep,  and  bring  order  out  of  it.  I  have  been  traveling 
so  constantly,  and  so  attracted  by  strange  company  and  events,  and 
sights,  that  I  have  not  yet  read  the  journal  of  your  doings.  Dr. 
Wainwright,  I  suppose,  is  of  the  Hobart  School,  but  that  school 
teaches  Puseyism  in  the  germ.  However,  I  suppose  you  had  a 
choice  of  two  evils.  The  Pastoral  Aid  Society  may  help  to  turn  the 
scale  more  decidedly.  But,  alas,  where  are  the  men?  May  the 
Lord  send  men  into  the  harvest. 

"I  had  a  secret  purpose,  during  my  last  visit  to  New  York,  of 
renewing  it  next  Easter.  But  I  have  been  traveling  so  much  of 
late,  that  I  shall  have  to  stay  at  home  for  a  year  or  two  to  make 
up  leeway.  When  I  can  I  will  see  the  great  City  of  Gotham  again. 

"W.  S." 

To  E.  W.  SYLE. 

"  I  was  in  Ohio  last  fall.  They  made  a  great  effort  to  bring  me 
back  to  Kenyon,  and  I  could  hardly  resist  it.  Even  now  I  have 
my  fears  lest  I  should  have  gone.  I  was  a  delegate  to  the  General 
Convention,  and  went  thence  down  to  New  Orleans,  stopping  at  all 
the  chief  towns.  It  was  a  most  interesting  though  perilous  trip. 
The  danger  of  a  trip  down  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers,  to  New 
Orleans,  is  greater  than  of  one  to  Shanghai.  Accidents  were  con- 
tinually occurring  before  and  behind  me;  and  I  had  one  most 
merciful  escape. 

"April  19,  1851." 

A  sentence  in  one  of  these  letters  indicates  communication,  at 
least,  if  not  discussion,  with  some  of  the  heterogeneous  elements, 
ecclesiastical  and  theological,  found  among  his  fellow-travelers.  It 
seems,  however,  that  those  already  alluded  to  were  not  all.  There 
were  not  only  High  and  Low-Church  Episcopalians  and  Romanists, 
but  a  Methodist,  and  perhaps  a  Presbyterian ;  all,  in  the  eye  of 
the  captain,  and  in  view  of  the  payment  of  their  fare,  enjoying  full 
toleration.  As  the  time  wore  on,  and  the  parties  began  to  find 
each  other  out,  a  controversy  sprang  up  between  the  Methodist 
preacher  and  one  of  the  Romish  priests,  as  to  the  great  issues  be- 
tween Protestantism  and  Romanism. 

The  Doctor,  of  course,  was  greatly  interested,  and,  doubtless,  as 
the  discussion  went  on,  showed  such  interest,  in  the  expression  of 


WILLIAM    SPARHOW,   D.  D.  197 

his  countenance.  This  led  to  rather  an  abrupt,  if  not  rude  remark, 
from  one  of  the  Priests,  in  the  shape  of  a  question,  as  to  what  he 
thought  of  it?  His  reply  was  a  rebuke  to  the  impertinence  of  the 
question,  but,  at  the  same  time,  an  expression  of  opinion  as  to  what 
had  been  urged,  thus  becoming  one  of  the  parties  in  the  discussion. 
In  a  little  while  he  found  that  he  was  bearing  the  brunt  of  it  on  the 
Protestant  side;  and  that  he  must  answer  the  two  Bishops,  and 
their  Priests  as  he  best  could,  as  their  arguments  were  presented. 
Eventually  it  was  narrowed  down  to  a  discussion  between  him  and 
Bishop  Spaulding,  who  showed  more  ability  and  promptness  than 
any  of  his  party,  and  this,  upon  the  issue  of  the  dealing  of  the 
Church  of  Rome  with  the  Scriptures.  An  assertion  of  the  Doctor 
that  they  were  not  made  accessible  to  the  people,  that  they  were 
practically  withheld,  was  promptly  denied.  "  This,"  said  the  Doc- 
tor, taking  his  Bible  from  his  pocket,  "  this  is  my  Bible,  that  I  carry 
and  read  in  my  own  language.  In  what  language  is  yours?  Let 
us  see  it?"  Effort  was  made  to  evade  this  demand.  But  it  was 
pressed,  had  to  be  yielded  to,  and  as  the  Doctor  anticipated,  the 
Bible  was  a  Latin  one,  not,  of  course,  accessible  to  the  masses. 

Bishop  Spaulding,  in  the  Doctor's  estimation,  was  the  ablest  mem- 
ber of  his  party,  acute  and  clever,  rather  than  profound.  "  His 
way,"  said  the  Doctor,  "  of  putting  things,  was  very  telling ;  and 
he  very  often,  to  the  lookers  on  and  listeners,  gave  the  impression 
that  he  had  the  best  of  the  argument,  when  such  was  not  really 
the  case." 

"Among  our  company,"  said  he,  once  describing  his  companions, 
"  we  had  a  play  actor,  who,  as  the  folk  call  it,  was  a  star,  on  his  way 
to  New  Orleans.  I  noticed  him  with  a  good  deal  of  interest.  He 
had  a  good  many  trunks  and  boxes,  which  I  suppose  contained  his 
wardrobe,  marked  with  his  name  and  title,  '  John  Jones,'  or  what- 
ever his  name  was,  'Tragedian!' 

Another  little  incident  of  this  tour  he  was  accustomed  to  relate, 
as  showing  the  extent,  as  well  as  the  limit,  of  his  deference  to 
ecclesiastical  authority.  During  a  Sunday  spent  on  shore,  he  was 
requested  to  take  part  in  the  services,  to  read  service  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  preach  in  the  afternoon.  There  was  no  vestry-room  to 
the  Church,  and  the  hotel  was  a  half  or  three-quarters  of  a  mile 
distant,  most  of  the  way  being  the  street,  or  rather  road,  of  a 
straggling  village.  When  it  was  time  to  start,  the  Bishop  put  on 
his  robes,  and  motioned  to  the  Doctor  to  put  on  his  surplice.  After 


198  MEMOIR    OP 

some  hesitation  it  was  donned,  and  the  march  was  taken  up  to  the 
place  of  worship  ;  we  walked  back,  of  course,  after  the  service  was 
over.  But,"  said  he,  "in  the  afternoon,  when  the  Bishop  robed 
himself,  I  refused,  and  preached  in  my  citizens'  dress.  The  Bishop, 
however,  made  his  procession  forth  and  back  through  the  village, 
as  in  the  morning.  Poor  man  !  he  seemed  to  regard  it  as  his  cross, 
that  ought  to  be  borne." 

The  next  year,  in  accordance  with  the  determination  expressed 
in  one  of  these  letters,  seems  to  have  been  spent  mostly  at  home. 
None  of  his  correspondence  for  that  year  has  been  obtained,  saving 
the  following  brief  note  in  the  possession  of  the  writer. 


AND  DEAR  BROTHER: 
"At  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  L.,  now  at  my  elbow,  I  write  to  in- 
quire what  will  be  the  expense  in  the  stage  from  Winchester  to 
Staunton.     We  think   of  going  up  by  private  conveyance,  and 
spending  the  Sabbath  previous  to  convention  with  you.         W.  S." 

This  Convention,  while  an  interesting  one,  as  to  the  religious  ser- 
vices, was  not  of  special  importance  beyond  the  community  in 
which  it  was  held.  Dr.  Sparrow  does  not  seem  to  have  preached, 
as  was  usually  the  case.  The  writer  recalls  with  pleasure  a  delight- 
ful stroll,  and  conversation  with  him,  over  the  grounds  of  the 
Asylum  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb,  and  one  or  two  of  the  topics  inci- 
dentally coming  up  for  discussion.  One  of  these  was  in  reference 
to  preaching,  and  the  mode  in  which  truth  could  be  commended  to 
the  minds  of  men.  He  had  lately  heard  a  young  clergyman  of 
much  promise,  in  view  both  of  his  personal  character  and  of  his 
high  cultivation.  But  it  was  with  a  feeling  of  disappointment  at 
the  bareness  with  which  the  material  was  presented,  the  want  of 
illustrative  exhibition,  through  which  it  would  have  been  com- 
mended to  the  comprehension  of  ordinary  hearers,  and  to  the  higher 
interest  of  the  more  cultivated.  The  other  topic,  upon  which  he 
seemed  to  feel  more  deeply,  was  the  perverting  influence  of  Epis- 
copal expectations,  both  of  a  moral  and  theological  character,  and,  in 
too  many  cases,  upon  men  who  all  along  previously  had  been  in 
sympathy  with  Evangelical  views  and  practice.  The  occasion  of  this 
expression  of  feeling  was  the  substance  of  another  sermon,  to  which 
he  had  lately  listened,  from  a  clergyman  who  had  been  spoken  of 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  199 

for  the  Episcopate  of  a  vacant  Diocese.  There  was  an  elevation 
of  ecclesiastical  tone,  corresponding  to  the  new  expectations,  clearly 
apparent,  to  which  he  had  listened  with  painful  interest,  as  affording 
an  intimation  of  what  might  be  the  speaker's  future  career.  It  is 
to  be  said,  that  the  temptation  to  the  person  spoken  of  was  never 
actually  presented;  and  the  theological  and  ecclesiastical  change 
never  went  to  the  degree  anticipated. 

It  was  during  this  trip  to  or  from  Staunton,  probably,  that  a  little 
incident  occurred,  to  which  the  Doctor  made  allusion,  some  years 
afterwards,  as  bearing  upon  the  interpretation  of  the  language  in 
Genesis,  in  reference  to  the  enmity  between  the  literal  seed  of  the 
woman  and  the  seed  of  the  serpent.  Mention  was  made,  to  him,  of 
one  of  his  acquaintances  who  did  not  believe  in  the  fact  of  any  such 
antipathy,  but  who  had  clearly  exhibited  it  on  a  certain  occasion,  by 
his  eagerness  to  kill  a  snake  which  he  had  accidentally  encountered. 
"I  have  no  theory,"  said  he,  "but  I  know  the  fact.  As  Mr.  L. 
and  I  were  traveling  along,  a  large  snake  bolted  from  under  the  car- 
riage, and  ran  up  into  a  tree,  near  the  side  of  the  road.  Immedi- 
ately we  were  seized  with  fury  against  the  poor  animal,  and  leaping 
from  our  vehicle,  we  pelted  him  with  stones  and  clods,  until,  at  last, 
one  of  them  struck  and  killed  him.  It  was  strange  how  much  we 
were  excited.  "When  it  was  over,  and  I  thought  of  it,  I  felt  quite 
condemned." 

Since  writing  the  above,  remains  of  the  correspondence  of  this 
year  have  been  obtained,  two  of  the  letters,  or  portions  of  them, 
being  of  special  interest.  The  first  is  one  of  a  class,  of  which  seve- 
ral will  follow  in  the  subsequent  narrative,  to  a  relative  and  younger 
brother  in  the  ministry,  replying  to  questions,  and  making  sug- 
gestions in  reference  to  preaching,  pastoral  intercourse,  etc.  The 
other  portions  of  the  letters,  extracted  from  the  Syle  correspondence, 
refer  to  Mrs.  Smith,  his  beloved  daughter  Susan,  in  her  prepara- 
tion for  the  work  of  love  and  self-sacrifice,  to  which  her  life  was 
afterwards  devoted.  They  are  of  deep  interest  as  indications,  not 
only  of  her  spirit,  but  of  her  remarkable  capacity  for  this  great 
undertaking.  And  as  we  think  of  her  brief  career,  in  a  field  where 
so  much  was  to  be  done,  and  in  a  work  to  which  her  heart  was  de- 
voted, we  can  but  remember  the  thought  of  her  beloved  father,  in 
regard  to  the  gifted  but  early  taken  Duy,  a  few  years  before. 
"  The  Lord  had  need  of  her  elsewhere,  where  it  is  better,  far  better 
for  her  to  be ;  and  we  should  therefore  meekly  acquiesce." 


200  MEMOIR   OF 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  FAIRFAX  COUNTY,  VA., 

"June  25th,  1851. 
"  MY  DEAR  MR.  JEROME  : — 

"  Your  letter,  written  about  three  weeks  ago,  was  received  in  due 
time,  and  would  have  been  answered  before,  but  for  the  various 
impediments  which  hinder  my  progress  from  one  day's  duty  to 
another,  at  all  times,  and  not  least  just  now.  My  Georgetown 
engagement  takes  me  from  home  the  large  part  of  three  days,  and, 
of  course,  does  not  lessen  the  amount  of  headache  at  those  times. 
These,  with  some  other  things,  make  me  very  good-for-nothing, 
and,  of  course,  for  correspondence.  I  am  pleased  with  the  account 
you  have  given  of  your  examination.  It  illustrates  the  strong 
disposition  there  is,  and  has  long  been,  in  the  minds  of  theo- 
logians, to  be  wise  above  what  is  written,  and  to  rush  in  where 
angels  dare  not  tread.  I  hold  to  development,  but  not  in  every 
direction,  nor  upon  every  topic.  I  believe  it  also  a  very  slow  pro- 
cess. It  is  slow  in  nature;  it  is  much  more  slow  in  revelation. 
How  long  has  it  taken  to  build  up  science?  how  much  longer  ought 
it  to  take  to  build  up  theology  beyond  ipsissima  verba  of  the  divine 
Scriptures  ?  The  dogmatism  of  men  upon  the  condition  and  neces- 
sities of  infants,  as  such,  has  always  amazed  me  in  an  especial  man- 
ner. When  we  would  build  up  an  inductive,  namely,  a  safe  system 
of  mental  philosophy,  where  do  we  go  ?  Of  course  to  the  adult 
mind.  And  why  the  adult  mind?  Because  we  there  have  phe- 
nomena. And  why  not  to  the  infant  mind?  Because  there  we 
have  only  substance  (which  is  a  mystery  and  secret),  and  not  phe- 
nomena. And  yet,  when  the  subject  of  theology  is  up,  we  presume 
to  apply  its  every  statement  to  the  new-born  babe,  as  to  the  man  in 
the  maturity  of  his  powers,  and  to  do  so  without  regard  to  the  laws 
of  proportion,  or  the  reservations  which  sound  logic  insists  on,  and 
uses,  in  such  expressions  as  'mutatis  mutandis.'  And  all  this,  too, 
with  the  utmost  dogmatism  and  confidence.  But  why,  why  this 
confidence?  Is  the  thing  so  clear  in  itself?  No,  not  that,  per 
se,  it  is  certain ;  but  because  it  is  necessary  to  make  some  system 
'totus  teres  atque  rotundas;' — which  system  itself,  perhaps,  began 
in  the  very  same  disposition  to  carry  out  human  knowledge  hastily, 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  express  inspired  word.  As  to  the  question, 
what  God  can  do  or  not  do  by  his  Spirit,  without  the  truth,  as  in  the 
case  of  infants,  for  the  reasons  just  virtually  mentioned,  it  may  be 
equally  presumptuous,  specifically  to  decide  either  way.  We  may 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  201 

safely  say,  in  general,  that  God  can  do,  and  will  do,  all  that  is 
necessary  for  it;  but  what  he  can  actually  do,  according  to  his  own 
laws,  laid  down  to  himself,  and  by  himself,  in  the  very  creation  of 
that  being,  we  do  not  know,  because  we  do  not  know  that  being.  It 
is,  as  yet,  in  the  thick  darkness ;  it  has  not  yet  come  out  into  the 
light.  When  it  has,  we  may  know  and  decide,  but  not  till  then.  And 
while  ignorant,  specific  dogmatism,  as  I  have  called  it,  is  reprehen- 
sible on  either  side,  God  cannot  treat  brutes  as  men;  this  we 
know,  because  we  are  acquainted  with  both  rational  and  irrational 
animals.  But  suppose  we  know  only  about  men?  What  then? 
Or  suppose  we  take  brutes  and  angels;  we,  knowing  all  we  do  of 
the  former,  and  of  the  latter  only  that  they  were  a  different  order  of 
creatures  from  brutes.  What  then?  I  need  not,  of  course,  reply 
to  the  cavil,  that  God  is  omnipotent,  and  can,  therefore,  treat  brutes 
as  men.  What  can  treat  mean  in  such  a  case  ?  Transubstantiate  ? 
That  sense  would  not  answer  the  objector.  A  manifest  absurdity! 
and,  of  course,  if  an  absurdity,  a  contradiction,  and  if  a  contradic- 
tion, a  nonentity ;  the  impossibility  of  it  derogates  not  from  the 
Omnipotence  of  God. 

"But  I  did  not  mean  to  indulge  in  such  a  metaphysical  descrip- 
tion. As  regards  the  Sacraments,  I  rejoice  you  answered  just  as 
you  did.  You  see  the  importance  of  maintaining  that  the  officers 
of  the  Church  only  should  administer  them,  or  at  least  persons  vir- 
tually authorized  by  the  Church  to  do  so.  Whilst  it  is  in  manifest 
harmony  with  all  the  Scripture  intimations  on  the  subject,  it  is  not 
in  accordance  with  high  and  exclusive  views  of  the  ministry,  or 
sacraments,  or  Church.  I  am  glad  to  hear  what  you  have  said 
about  Mr.  S.  It  is  only  sad  there  should  be  a  dead  fly  in  such 
precious  ointment. 

"I  can  appreciate  what  you  say  about  the  little  trials  which 
beginning  your  ministry,  '  a  prophet  in  your  own  country,'  necessa- 
rily involved.  Having  been  carried  safely  through  them  there,  they 
will  eventually,  by  God's  blessing,  result  in  good.  It  may  be  an  ad- 
vantage to  you  thus  to  have  begun  your  ministry.  There  is  nothing 
very  new  here,  except  it  be  what  has  just  been  brought  to  my  ears 
— that  B.,  of  the  Junior  Class,  exhibits  some  signs  of  derangement. 
I  hope  it  is  not  so,  but  very  much  fear  it  is  too  true.  His  derange- 
ment takes  a  religious  turn,  if  indeed  he  is  deranged,  and  this,  to 
me,  is  a  pleasant  feature  in  an  otherwise  painful  fact.  One  of  the 
most  impressive  lessons  I  ever  received,  when  a  boy,  was  from  ob- 


202  MEMOIR    OF 

serving  the  conduct  of  a  pious  clergyman  piously  deranged.  The 
students  have  formed  a  society  for  improving  the  Seminary  grounds. 
Nearly  $300  have  been  subscribed ;  they  expect  to  do  much.  The 
money  is  not  to  be  touched  until  it  amounts  to  $500.  They  have 
also  collected  a  couple  of  hundred  for  the  Shanghai  Church.  Mor- 
rison has  contributed  a  hundred  to  each  of  these  objects.  Mr. 
Hubbard  is  to  be  ordained  with  his  class.  Mrs.  May  has  been 
unwell,  but  is  now  recovered.  The  general  health  is  good. 

"All  my  household,  if  at  my  side,  would  unite  with  me  in  affec- 
tionate remembrances. 

"  Most  truly  yours,  WILLIAM  SPARROW. 

"  Eeo.  J.  A.  Jerome." 

To  REV.  E.  W.  SYLE. 

"April  19th,  1851. 

"  Susan  (afterwards  Mrs.  D.  D.  Smith)  is  in  the  State  of  Missis- 
sippi, acting  as  governess  to  the  children  of  our  old  friend  Bledsoe, 
and  Prof.  Waddell,  both  professors  in  the  University  of  that  State. 
She  is  very  much  respected  and  beloved,  to  the  great  comfort,  of 
course,  of  her  parents.  She  has  been  studying  mathematics  with  Prof. 
Bledsoe,  and  he  solemnly  declares  to  me  he  never  has  taught  any 
one,  with  the  same  native  talent  for  the  subject !  Allowing  for  the 
partiality  of  friendship,  this  is  saying  a  great  deal.  I  know  that 
she  has  great  powers  of  concentration.  She  once  read  Rauch's 
Psychology  with  me,  and  mastered  it  far  better  than  any  student  in 
the  Seminary;  but  I  did  not  suppose  her  talent  went  as  far  as 
Bledsoe  says. 

"  I  have  sometimes  thought  (this  is  entirely  between  us  and  not 
to  be  mentioned  in  any  letter)  that  in  the  course  of  a  few  years 
Susan  may  turn  her  thoughts  to  China.  She  would  make,  I  feel 
confident,  a  first-rate  missionary.  But  I  have  never  hinted  it  to  her, 
and  wish  to  have  her  mind  entirely  self-moved  in  the  matter,  if 
things  should  take  that  turn." 

To  THE  SAME. 

"July  4th,  1852. 

"  This  letter  will  be  carried  by  Miss  Jones,  who  will  be  a  great 
acquisition  to  your  Mission.  I  shall  send  by  her  a  few  sermons 
from  the  pen  of  your  humble  servant.  I  send  them  not  from  a 
high  sense  of  their  worth,  but  from  the  hope  that,  as  the  produc- 
tion of  an  old  friend,  they  may  occupy  a  few  moments  not  unpleas- 


WILLIAM    SPARROWjD.  D.  203 

antly.  I  have  one,  preached  at  our  last  Convention,  now  in  the 
press,  and  I  hope  I  may  be  able  to  send  a  copy  of  that  also.  I  have 
ventured  somewhat  in  the  expression  of  my  opinions  in  it,  and 
should  like  to  know  how  they  appear  to  you.  Indeed,  I  have  often 
thought  I  should  like  to  have  a  free  conversation  with  you  (or  a 
free  letter  from  you)  on  many  theological  topics,  with  a  view  to 
learn  how  looking  at  them  from  the  stand-point  of  a  missionary 
among  the  heathen  has  affected  them.  Please  bear  this  in  mind. 

"  I  have  told  you,  I  believe,  of  my  call  to  Boston,  and  of  my 
strong  inclination  to  go.  I  yearn  for  pastoral  duty.  My  heart 
has  not  room,  in  its  present  position.  But  the  'stars  in  their 
.courses  seem  to  fight  against  me/  and  I  am  not  likely  to  get  away; 
except  it  be  to  Kenyon,  where,  I  am  told,  they  think  again  of 
calling  me.  I  care  not  for  myself.  The  Lord  direct  me  in  refer- 
ence to  my  children's  welfare. 

"  I  do  not  think  it  unlikely  she  (Susan)  will  be  a  missionary  yet. 
She  certainly  would  make  a  good  one,  and  neither  father  nor  mother 
would  say  nay,  if  circumstances  favored  it. 

"  Mrs.  Sparrow  is  now  in  Western  New  York,  to  see  Mary.  She 
will  be  absent  a  month  or  six  weeks.  It  is  the  second  time  she  has 
left  home  without  me,  since  we  were  married.  The  house  seems  as 
though  half  the  roof  were  off." 

Towards  the  close  of  this  year,  in  the  month  of  November, 
1851,  the  Doctor  was  absent  from  home,  for  a  short  time,  in  New 
York,  where  he  preached  the  Annual  Sermon  before  the  Directors  of 
the  Evangelical  Knowledge  Society,  entitled  the  "One  Mediator;" 
being  an  exhibition  of  the  peculiar  character  of  Christ's  mediator- 
ship,  and  made  to  bear  upon  the  Sacerdotalism  against  which  the 
efforts  of  the  Society  were  directed.  This  was  published,  contains 
the  most  elaborate  exhibition,  perhaps,  of  his  views  on  the  subject 
that  he  ever  presented,  and  is  well  worthy  of  a  place  in  the  con- 
templated volume  of  his  select  sermons. 

Soon  after  his  return  from  New  York,  he  was  again  for  a  little 
while  absent  from  home,  for  a  short  visit  to  Charlestown,  Jefferson 
County,  Virginia,  where  the  Valley  Convocation  at  that  time  was 
holding  its  meeting.  The  occasion  was  one  of  peculiar  interest. 
The  old  church,  for  many  years  occupied  during  the  pastorate  of 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Jones,  had  been  thoroughly  repaired,  enlarged  and 
beautified,  in  the  year  1848.  In  a  very  few  weeks  after  its  reoccu- 


204  MEMOIR    OF 

pation  it  was  destroyed  by  fire.  A  new  building  was  immediately 
planned  and  commenced  under  Dr.  Jones.  But  its  completion  was 
left  to  his  successor,  the  lamented  Dudley  A.  Tyng,  who  became  pas- 
tor in  the  Spring  of  1850.  This  was  nearly  accomplished  in  the 
fall  of  1851,  and  the  time  of  Convocation  was  selected  as  that  for 
the  consecration  of  the  new  building.  Bishop  Meade  officiated,  and 
Dr.  Sparrow,  by  appointment,  preached  the  Consecration  Sermon. 
This,  in  some  respects,  was  one  of  his  most  remarkable  discourses. 
Its  exhibition  of  the  proper  purposes  of  such  a  house  was  exceed- 
ingly clear,  forcible,  and  thoroughly  Protestant.  While  its  pathos, 
in  speaking  of  the  hopes  of  those  who  had  labored  for  that  build- 
ing, and  who  had  been  taken  away  before  the  work  was  successfully 
ended,  and  of  the  classes  who,  in  after  times,  would  come  to  it  as  a 
house  of  prayer,  burdened  with  their  various  wants  and  necessities, 
was  exceedingly  touching.  'Doctor,'  said  a  strange  clergyman, 
who  was  present  as  a  visitor,  '  Doctor,  you  have  made  me  do  what 
I  have  never  done  before,  shed  tears  under  a  sermon  !'  Nor  was 
he  alone  in  that  respect.  Few,  perhaps,  were  altogether  unmoved 
at  certain  portions  of  its  delivery,  and  none  could  have  failed  in  re- 
cognizing its  peculiar  appropriateness  to  the  occasion.* 

Not  long  after  this  visit  to  Charlestown,  he  was  called  upon  to 
consider  the  question  of  a  change  of  position,  already  mentioned. 
In  this  instance,  moreover,  as  in  that  of  1850,  the  decision  to  be 
made  was  one  with  reference  not  only  to  a  change  of  position,  but 
to  one  of  work,  the  assumption  of  parochial  duty.  Bishop  Eastburn, 
at  that  time  holding  the  Eectorship  of  Trinity  Church,  Boston, 
was  exceedingly  anxious  to  obtain  Dr.  Sparrow  as  his  assistant, 
and  made  a  special  visit  to  the  Seminary  to  urge  upon  him  its  ac- 
ceptance. It  was  not  deemed  advisable  that  a  call  should  be  ex- 
tended, or  even  his  name  proposed,  until  there  was  some  probability 
that  he  would  be  induced  to  accept,  and  the  matter,  therefore,  at 
the  time  was  confined  to  the  persons  most  concerned.  The  pro- 
position took  him  by  surprise,  and  his  first  impulse  was  to  put 
it  aside,  or  rather,  to  regard  it  as  one  not  to  be  seriously  consid- 
ered. He  consented,  however,  at  the  request  of  the  Bishop,  not 
to  decide  unfavorably  until  he  should  hear  from  him  again.  Some 
of  the  reasons  for  not  deciding  at  once  come  to  view  in  the  cor- 
respondence of  this  period.  It  will  be  seen  in  this  case,  as  in  every 

*  This  sermon  was  afterwards  published  in  connection  with  the  consecration  of  a 
Church  in  Smyrna,  Delaware. 


WILLIAM     S  P  A  R  R  0  W,    D.  D.  205 

other  in  which  he  was  urged  to  leave  the  Seminary,  that  it  would 
have  been  to  his  pecuniary  advantage  to  have  made  the  change, 
and  that  this,  in  his  circumstances,  with  his  large  family,  and  the 
necessity  of  providing  for  their  education,  made  it  a  matter  of  duty 
to  give  this  item  its  due  and  painful  consideration. 

It  has  been  with  a  good  deal  of  hesitation  that  the  letter  follow- 
ing, and  one  or  two  preceding,  touching  the  same  topic,  have  been 
inserted.  But  the  story  would  not  have  been  a  true  story  without 
them.  That  which,  like  the  atmosphere,  constitutes  the  daily  pres- 
sure of  a  man's  life,  which  he  is  scarcely  for  a  day  allowed  to  for- 
get, cannot  be  left  out  in  any  proper  estimate  of  his  character  and 
work.  The  pressure  under  which  the  character  is  formed  and  fully 
matured,  under  which  work  is  done,  and  influence  is  exerted,  en- 
hances their  value  in  our  estimation.  The  moral  significance  of 
action,  in  such  cases,  is  often  more  clearly  seen.  Especially  is  this 
the  case  when  a  decision  is  made  to  remain  in  the  clear  line  of  duty 
rather  than  seek  relief  in  a  movement  where  the  call  of  duty  is  less 
undoubted.  Such  was  the  decision  in  the  instance  before  us.  It 
will  not  be  uninteresting  to  note  the  spirit  in  which  the  whole  mat- 
ter was  considered. 

To  KEY.  E.  H.  CANFIELD,  D.  D. 

"  January  23d,  1852. 

"  I  suppose  it  is  too  late  to  wish  you  a  Happy  New  Year,  and 
to  wish  you  a  Happy  Old  Year  is  to  wish  the  wheel  of  time  to  roll 
back  again,  which,  I  believe,  never  has  been,  and  never  will  be ;  all 
I  can  do,  therefore,  is  to  wish  you  and  yours  a  Happy  New  Year ; 
and  that,  accordingly,  I  do  with  all  my  heart.  I  think  it  probable  I 
should  have  been  more  in  season,  if  I  had  not  been  unwell  for  the 
last  three  weeks,  confined,  indeed,  to  my  house  and  to  my  room. 
However,  thank  God,  I  am  now  better,  and  I  have  some  faint  hope 
of  riding  to  Alexandria  to-morrow,  if  the  weather  will  allow,  which 
I  have  not  done  for  nearly  four  weeks. 

"  Apropos  of  weather :  Are  you  not  frozen  up  in  New  York  ? 
The  thermometer  has  stood,  on  this  hill,  within  a  week,  10°  below 
zero ;  the  mercury  must  have  disappeared  from  the  bulb  altogether 
in  your  frigid  zone.  The  Potomac  has  been  long  frozen  over,  and 
even  the  ice-boat  has  been  driven  off  the  mail  route  several  times, 
and  latterly,  has  taken  nearly  24  hours  to  work  its  way  to  Acquia 
Creek.  I  do  not  know  that  it  is  running  at  all  now.  The  ice  is  so 


206  MEMOIR    OF 

much  accumulated  above  Georgetown,  that  they  are  in  great  fear 
of  the  destruction  of  their  shipping  and  mills  when  it  breaks  up. 
They  are  removing  the  machinery  from  the  latter. 

"  I  wonder  whether  the  cold  has  had  any  influence  on  Kossuth's 
projects  and  prospects.  It  was  not  sufficiently  cold  when  he  was 
amongst  you  New  Yorkers.  However,  I  did  not  perceive  my  Bro- 
ther C.'s  name  among  the  clergy,  and  conclude,  from  that,  he  did 
not  catch  the  fever. 

"  I  suppose,  however,  the  Church  Clergy  were  more  moved  by 
Dr.  Creighton's  letter  than  by  Kossuth's  speeches.  So  you  are  back 
again  in  limbo.  The  Lord  grant  you  all  a  safe  deliverance  out  of  it. 
I  was  really  desirous  to  have  Dr.  C.  retain  his  appointment,  lest  a 

worse  thing  come  upon  you.  I  do  not  wish  to  see  Bishop, 

much  less ,  and  yet  I  am  afraid  one  of  them  will  be.  One 

of  our  students,  who  corresponds  with  one  of  those  in  the  General 

Seminary,  says  that  they  are  thinking  of  rallying  on  again. 

One  of  our  High  Church  Bishops  said  to  me,  that could  never 

be  consecrated,  that  he  had  broached  errors,  and  had  not  retracted 
them,  and  that  the  Bishops  could  not  overlook. 

"I  had  a  letter  from  T.,  not  a  fortnight  ago.  He  tells  me  that 
E.  is  going  to  join  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  perhaps  its  ministry. 
R.  confesses  that  he  has  been  a  Papist  for  three  years.  T.  thinks 
that  he  has  been  greatly  wronged  by  him ;  for  he  has  been  defend- 
ing his  Protestantism  for  some  long  time  back,  whenever  it  was 
assailed,  and  R  never  dropped  a  word  till  the  other  day,  from  which 
he  could  gather  the  true  state  of  his  mind.  T.  is  indignant  to 
have  been  thus  left  in  a  false  position.  I  hope  it  will  do  him  good, 
and  the  parish  too. 

"  I  had  a  letter  from  Dr.  W.,  about  the  same  time,  and  am  glad 
to  learn  that  Kenyon  is  beginning  to  look  up.  Dr.  W.,  at  the  in- 
stance of  an  old,  and  ardent,  and  partial  friendship,  expresses  the 
hope  that  I  may,  one  day,  yet  return  to  my  old  beat.  My  heart 
often  turns  in  that  direction,  but  at  this  present  time  my  thoughts, 
at  least,  are  flying  Northward;  and  as  a  friend  to  be  trusted,  I  wish 
to  ask  your  advice,  in  confidence,  upon  the  subject.  I  do  not  wish 
a  word  to  be  said  to  anybody,  till  I  bring  it  before  the  public  by  my 
own  act,  if  ever  I  do.  You  know  my  circumstances  here.  Now, 
then,  supposing  I  could  get  a  situation  in  Boston,  worth  $3000  a 
year,  with  very  easy  duty,  ought  I  not  accept  it?  You  probably 
know  what  I  refer  to,  but  I  am  bound  to  be  reserved  on  the  subject, 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.   D.  207 

and  yet  I  feel  I  ought  to  have  the  advice  of  friends.  Friends  here 
I  cannot  advise  with — above  all,  with  the  man  to  whom  I  am 
bound  to  defer  most,  and  whom  my  heart  inclines  me  to  respect 
more  than  any  other.  In  this  emergency  I  turn  to  you,  and  would 
be  thankful,  with  all  your  knowledge  of  me,  and  of  the  situation 
referred  to,  if  you  would  honestly  give  me  your  opinion.  Let  me 
hear  from  you,  if  possible,  by  return  of  mail ;  and  let  me  beg  you 
not  to  mention  the  subject  to  any  one,  unless,  as  I  said,  I  have  the 
situation  offered  me  and  /  accept  it.  I  owe  this  privacy  to  another, 
of  course,  not  to  myself. 

"  Nothing  new  here,  except  old  Robin's  death.  Since  I  saw  you, 
I  have  been  with  Dudley  Tyng,  who  is  a  growing  and  most  success- 
ful minister,  much  valued  by  his  people.  I  have  also  been  in  Lees- 
burg.  Dennison  is  here,  on  his  Bible  agency,  in  good  health  and 
spirits." 

To  THE  SAME. 

"  January  31st,  1852. 

"  The  great  motive  I  had  for  considering  the  proposition,"  that 
of  a  call  from  Boston,  "  was  the  increased  salary  which  it  seemed 
to  hold  out  to  me.  Not  that  I  would  be  considered,  or  I  think  I 
ought  to  be  considered,  grasping  and  avaricious.  But  I  have  been 
anxious  for  some  change  which  would  relieve  me  from  embarrass- 
ments that  have  beset  me  most  of  the  time  that  I  have  been  resid- 
ing at  this  place.  These  anxieties  are  mainly  about  the  future.  If 
I  can  keep  my  debts  down  to  their  present  point,  I  shall  not  be 
apprehensive  that  my  death  will  be  a  signal  of  distress  to  my  family ; 
and  to  make  this  sure  was  the  only  reason  that  the  call  from  Boston 
had  any  special  attractions  for  me.  But  like  causes  are  apt  to  pro- 
duce like  effects ;  and  it  is  not  easy  for  a  man  of  a  large  family,  with 
little  skill  in  management,  and  no  ability  to  do  anything  to  lessen 
expenses,  to  rub  along  and  keep  the  accounts  squared.  And  it  is 
not  debt  that  I  wish  to  guard  against,  but  that  dependence  which 
such  embarrassment  occasions. 

"  Again,  let  me  say,  that  I  have  no  fault  to  find  with  the  Institu- 
tion which  I  serve.  They  have  dealt  liberally  by  me,  according  to 
their  standard  and  their  means.  I  should  be  ungrateful  in  making 
any  other  statement.  I  have  thought  it  proper  to  obtrude  my 
affairs  upon  you  in  this  way,  to  disabuse  your  mind  in  reference  to 
the  precise  motives  which  have  led  me  to  entertain  the  proposition 


208  MEMOIR    OP 

in  question.  The  personal  interest  you  have  expressed  in  me  has 
gone  to  my  heart;  and  while  I  am  thankful  there  is  no  occasion 
for  my  friends  to  tax  themselves  on  my  account,  I  can  appreciate,  to 
the  utmost,  the  willing  mind  which  you,  as  one  of  them,  evince. 
If  our  relations  were  reversed,  I  hope  I  should  feel  as  you  do. 

"Your  statements  about  Drs.  Wilson's,  Turner's,  and  Tyng's 
opinion  of  my  sermon  are  truly  gratifying.  It  was  a  trial  to 
preach  it,  but  much  more  did  I  dread  the  ordeal  of  publication. 
When  they  come  to  read,  thought  I,  they  will  change  their  opinions. 
In  view  of  what  has  occurred,  what  can  I  .say,  but  that  even  wise 
men  can  sometimes  make  mistakes. 

"  Do  you  think  I  could  have  some  twenty  of  the  remaining  copies 
of  the  sermon  kept  for  me  till  next  Easter,  when  I  shall  send  for 
them?  W.  S." 

Other  letters  of  this  year,  1852,  are  interesting,  as  connected 
with  one  or  two  sermons  prepared  and  preached  on  public  occa- 
sions. Some  of  the  discussions  of  theological  and  practical  ques- 
tions, moreover,  contained  in  these  letters,  are  of  permanent  value. 

To  THE  SAME. 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  May,  1852. 
"B.EV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER: — 

"  It  seems  high  time  that  a  messenger  should  pass  between  us. 
How  are  you,  and  how  doth  the  Lord  prosper  you  ?  Since  I  last 
wrote  to  you,  we  here  have  been  visited  from  the  North,  but  I 
could  not  gather  anything  particular — such  particulars  as  friendship 
is  ever  curious  about.  Do  write  me  soon,  and  let  me  know  all 
about  you. 

"But  what  shall  I  say  to  you?  Events  come  so  quick  that  I 
cannot  post  them  up,  or  even  record  them  in  my  day-book.  Of 
our  Convention  you  have  heard.  It  was  a  very  pleasant  one ; 
nothing  to  mar  our  pleasant  intercourse.  I  cannot  say,  from  hear- 
ing or  seeing,  that  much  good  was  done ;  but  we  may  hope  there 
was.  The  religious  services  were  very  frequent  and  very  well 
attended.  I  hope  in  a  few  weeks  to  send  you  a  copy  of  my  sermon 
preached  at  its  opening,  and  hope  you  will  approve  it. 

"  I  was  in  Baltimore  the  other  day,  just  after  the  Diocesan  Con- 
vention, and  was  pleased  to  learn  that  our  friends  came  off  quite 
as  well  as  such  an  insignificant  minority  could  expect,  and  better 
than  they  ever  did  before. 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  209 

"While  I  was  there,  the  Democratic  Convention  was  in  session, 
and  I  went  to  it  with  the  chaplain,  a  clergyman  of  our  Church,  and 
so  sat  upon  the  platform,  beside  the  'wheel-horse  of  Democracy,' 
and  so  forth !  While  there,  I  thought  of  you,  and  remembered 
you  once  throwing  by  your  text-books  to  see  the  Whigs  at  similar 
work  in  the  same  place !  By  the  way,  I  see  from  the  papers  that 
my  brother  Edward  has  been  appointed  a  delegate  from  Louisiana, 
to  the  Whig  Convention  in  Baltimore,  next  week.  Whether  he  is 
coming  I  know  not.  I  only  hope. 

"Will  you  not  be  with  us  in  July?  We  are  improving  our 
grounds  so  that  you  will  hardly  know  them.  Do  get  a  substitute 
for  a  couple  of  Sundays,  and  revisit  your  old  haunts.  You  know,  I 
trust,  what  pleasure  it  would  give  me  to  entertain  you.  Where  is 
W.,  and  what  is  he  doing?  Do  try  and  get  him  into  a  place.  He 
is  a  man  of  too  much  talents  and  worth  to  be  allowed  to  rust  out. 
When  you  see  him  remember  me  to  him.  Tyng,  Dudley,  I  mean, 
has  been  called  to  your  city;  but  I  think  it  must  be  a  mistake.  I 
thought  he  was  going  to  Cincinnati.  McElroy,  you  know,  is  back 
in  Delaware.  I  have  heard  that  they  have  telegraphed  Mr.  Hubbard 
to  hasten  North,  and  sail  for  China.  I  hope  to  hear  more  about  it 
by  mail  this  evening.  I  wish  to  write  him  a  farewell  line  before  he 
leaves.  He  is,  to  me,  a  dear  friend.  Should  you  see  him,  and  I  not 
be  able  to  reach  him  by  mail  before  he  sails,  please  remember  me 
affectionately  to  him. 

"  My  family  are  about  as  well  as  usual,  except  S.  Mrs.  Sparrow 
is  going,  in  a  fortnight  or  so,  to  Western  New  York,  to  visit  M.,  and 
will  be  absent  for  four  or  five  weeks,  the  second  time  of  her  absence  in 
eleven  years !  You  have  seen  notice  of  the  death  of  Mrs.  H.,  and 
Mrs.  T.  These  have  been  heavy  blows  to  the  family. 

"Bemember  me  most  kindly  to  Mrs.  C.,  also  to  Miss  H.;  also  to 
your  junior  self,  and  believe  me  truly, 

"  Your  friend  and  brother,  WILLIAM  SPARROW. 

"  To  Hev.  E.  H.  Canfield." 

"  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  January,  19th,  1852. 
"  MY  DEAR  J.  :— 

"  I  have  just  received  your  letter,  and  before  my  class  comes  to 
recite  in  my  study,  for  I  am  afraid  to  venture  out  yet,  I  am  disposed 
to  spend  a  few  moments  in  replying  to  it. 

"Do  not  trouble  yourself  about  answering  my  letters.     Your 
14 


210  MEMOIR    OF 

silence  will  make  no  difference  in  my  writing,  and  may  make  a  dif- 
ference in  your  sermons  or  your  health.  You  should  tell  your 
friends  generally  to  take  the  same  view  of  the  matter,  at  least 
while  you  are  under  the  whip  and  spur  of  so  much  pulpit  prepara- 
tion, as  at  present. 

"  By  the  way,  I  am  not  sorry  that  you  have  been  driven  to  ex- 
temporize a  little  before  the  great  congregation.     Let  me  make  a 
suggestion  in  regard  to  any  such  efforts.     Try  and  get  into  a  way  of 
making  short  sentences.     The  only  time  I  heard  you  extemporize  I 
thought  your  fault  was  that  your  'train  was  too  long.'     (You  may 
take  it  in  the  railroad  or  the  wardrobe  sense:  it  is  all  one!)     It  is 
.the  fault  of  those  most  conversant  with  books.     It  is  my  own  fault, 
.and  was  so  much  more  than  it  is.     The  evil  of  the  habit  is  that  it 
interferes  so  much  with  amplification,  which  is  the  very  life  of  all 
,-such  efforts.     With  long  sentences  a  man  may  repeat,  but  he  cannot 
.amplify;  and  repetition  kills  the  patience  of  an  audience;  cutting 
;such  sentences  up  into  several,  the  speaker  will  seem  to  be  adding 
;a  new  idea  each  time.     The  style,  moreover,  will  be  more  lively 
:  and  more  agreeable  to  most  persons.     It  will  tax  the  attention  less ; 
;and  last,  but  not  least,  it  will  not  burden  the  mind  of  the  speaker  too 
-much.     The  construction  of  long  sentences,  the  mere  framing  of 
'them,  and  putting  them  together,  and  the  retention  of  the  begin- 
ming  firmly  in  the  mind  until  the  end  has  been  reached,  of  itself  calls 
^for  a  great  expenditure  of  mental  energy.     This  saved,  the  mind 
;isnmore  at  liberty  to  attend  to  other  matters. 

"  In  regard  to  bowing,  in  the  Creed,  I  do  not  advise  it.  Had  the 
3  matter  been  suggested  before  you  went  to  N.  at  all,  I  might  have 
Lgiven  other  advice;  but  now,  I  think  a  change  would  be  unwise. 
It  would  encourage  the  people  in  that  regard  for  little  things  which 
'is  already  a  besetting  sin  among  them;  and  it  would  give  them  more 
'Confidence  in  that  system  with  which  the  usage  is  now  unhappily 
< connected  in  many  minds.  Besides,  being  'much  ado  about 
i  nothing,"'  it  would  foster  in  some  the  notion  that  you  are  beginning 
to  feel  iihe  pressure  of  their  influence,  and  that  having  gained  an 
iinch  they  may  go  on  and  ask  an  ell.  This  I  would  not,  on  any  ac- 
t  count,  have.  I  am  a  great  stickler  for  deference  to  the  wishes  of  the 
people,  where  they  have,  by  canon,  a  right  to  interfere  their  author- 
"ity;  and  in  private  life  and  personal  matters,  as  I  think  a  clergy- 
man cannot  be  too  kind  and  conciliating.  But  in  matters  of  this 
nature,  which  ;ha»ve  religious  relations,  and  yet  are  not  subject  to 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  211 

canonical  regulations,  nor  falling,  in  any  sense,  under  congrega- 
tional control,  they  should  be  taught  that  the  minister  has  a  path 
of  his  own,  a  conscience  of  his  own,  and  a  liberty  of  his  own. 
Suppose  that,  through  the  grace  of  God,  you  should  be  able  to  walk 
before  them,  in  all  your  private  conversation,  circumspect  and  un- 
blamably;  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  preach  the  Gospel  of  Christ 
substantially  as  Christ  would  have  it  preached ;  do  you  think  that 
a  matter  of  this  kind  is  going  to  stand  in  the  way  of  your  spiritual 
usefulness  ?  Nay,  will  not  a  steady,  mild,  and  silent  adherence  to 
your  own  convictions,  in  this  particular,  be  rather  helpful  to  you, 
showing  the  people  that  you  act  on  principle,  that  you  have  firm- 
ness as  well  as  gentleness,  and  that  they  ought  to  know  what  this 
meaneth:  'let  every  man  be  fully  persuaded  in  his  own  mind.' 

"In  your  peculiar  and  rather  trying  situation,  you  may  be 
tempted  to  some  anxiety  about  the  future,  as  regards  your  accept- 
ability among  the  people.  Do  not,  for  a  moment,  yield  to  it.  God 
forbid  that  you  should  be  indifferent  to  their  good  will,  or  should 
cease  to  be  deeply  and  constantly  desirous  to  go  in  and  out  before 
them  in  such  a  manner,  as  shall  make  them  honor  and  love  the 
Master  whom  you  serve.  But  beyond  this,  take  no  thought  for  the 
morrow.  I  am  persuaded,  if  God  has  a  work  for  you  to  do  in  N. 
He  will  give  you  favor  in  the  eyes  of  the  people;  and  if  he  has  not, 
then,  I  trust,  He  has  elsewhere;  and  there  are  plenty  of  openings 
everywhere,  as  I  can  see,  where  you  may,  with  His  blessing,  be 
useful  and  happy.  Be  not,  then,  for  a  moment  cast  down  by  your 
labors,  or  by  any  want  of  strict  agreement  and  sympathy  between 
you  and  the  people.  You  are  the  servant  of  a  faithful  and  tender 
Master.  '  Cast  your  care  upon  Him,  for  He  carethfor  you.1  Yes, 
my  dear  J.,  this  is  my  exceeding  joy,  that  I  believe  'He  careth  for 
you.'  Go  on,  then,  in  peace.  'Be  strong  in  the  Lord.'  '  In  every- 
thing, by  prayer,  and  supplication,  make  your  requests  known  unto 
Him,'  and  '  His  peace  will  keep  your  heart  and  mind.' 

"  On  Saturday  evening  I  received  a  letter  from  Bishop  Eastburn,  say- 
ing that  he  was  going  to  propose  me  to  the  vestry  of  Trinity  Church, 
Boston,  as  the  Assistant  Minister,  with  every  assurance  that  I 
would  be  unanimously  elected.  He  says  that  I  can  do  as  much 
parochial  visiting  as  I  choose,  and  that  I  shall  have  f  3000  per 
annum  salary.  He  offers  sundry  other  considerations,  and  seems 
very  anxious  that  I  should  accept.  If  I  could  see  that  I  would  be 


MEMOIR    OP 

in  the  way  of  duty  in  leaving  my  present  position,  I  should  accept  it. 
The  proposition  has  many  features  to  recommend  it. 

"  I  have  seen  nothing  yet  about  my  sermon,  except  commendatory 
notices ;  no  doubt,  after  the  sweet  will  come  the  bitter,  and  plenty 
of  it.  But,  for  the  truth's  sake,  I  care  but  little.  The  critics  are 
not  likely  to  shake  my  faith  in  the  sentiments  of  the  discourse,  and 
that  is  the  main  thing.  I  had  a  long  letter  from  Bishop  Meade 
about  it,  which  was  very  comforting,  although  accompanied  with 
some  severe  rebukes  for  not  exercising  my  talents  more.  By  the 
way,  I  have  another  sermon  which  may  soon  see  the  light,  by  the  re- 
quest of  the  students.  Should  it  do  so,  I  will,  of  course,  send  you 
a  copy.  I  have  sermonizing  enough  upon  my  hands.  The  Bishop 
has  appointed  me  to  preach  our  next  Convention  sermon,  in  May, 
in  Richmond;  and  in  July  I  have  to  deliver  an  address  at  Com- 
mencement. Besides  this,  I  have  promised  to  write  a  sermon  on 
the  American  Sunday  School  Union,  and  preach  it  in  the  District 
Episcopal  Church,  next  month.  This,  with  my  other  sermonizing, 
my  letter-writing,  my  daily  duties  in  teaching,  and  my  "often  in- 
firmities," which  wine,  much  or  little,  will  not  cure,  will  keep  me 
busy  enough.  Whatever  I  do,  may  the  Lord,  in  mercy,  turn  it  to 
account  for  the  advancement  of  the  truth. 

"  But  I  must  close,  else  my  writing  to  you  will  interfere  with  your 
pulpit  preparations  as  much  as  your  writing  to  me.  Remember  me 
very  kindly  to  Judge  E.,  to  Mrs.  A.  My  love  and  blessing  to  M. 
and  yourself. 

"Affectionately,  WM.  SPARROW." 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  August  9,  1852. 
"  MY  DEAR  MR.  JEROME  : — 

"  About  your  parish  affairs,  I  do  not  feel  able  to  say  more  than  I 
have  said  in  my  letters  to  Mrs.  S.  I  would  devoutly  commit 
your  ways  to  the  Lord,  and  pray  Him  to  do  with  you  and  your 
dear  household,  as  may  best  conduce  to  His  glory  and  the  good 
of  souls.  As  long  as  you  can  keep  your  eye  single  for  these 
objects,  I  shall  have  no  anxiety  about  you.  I  do  most  firmly  be- 
lieve that  all  things  work  together  for  good  to  them  that  thus  love 
God.  My  trouble  about  you  in  your  present  situation  has  not  been 
that  you  have  been  cramped  in  your  support,  though  that  is  painful, 
but  that  you  were  working  too  hard,  and  have  had  too  much  writ- 
ing to  allow  of  regular  study,  of  a  fundamental  kind.  In  writing 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  213 

an  address  for  our  Commencement,  on  "Post-Ordination  Study," 
you  were  much  in  my  thoughts  in  relation  to  the  matter.  I  suppose 
nearly  all  your  reading  is  with  immediate  reference  to  writing.  This 
has  its  advantages,  but  it  cannot  supply  the  place  of  other  study. 
Besides,  I  fear  you  may  get  into  a  careless  way  of  writing.  By 
long  composition  under  the  whip  and  spur  of  weekly  study,  a  man 
may  lose  the  ability  of  elaborating  anything.  Do  the  best  you  can 
to  guard  against  this. 

"Your  affectionate  father  and  friend,  "W.  SPARROW." 

The  sermon  thus  alluded  to  as  preached  before  the  Diocesan 
Convention,  was  entitled  the  "First  Council  of  Jerusalem,"  and  was 
largely  a  discussion  of  the  great  question  of  the  relations  of  human 
authority  to  Divine  truth.  Its  topics  were:  First,  the  occasion 
of  this  Council — the  difficulties  and  dissensions  of  Jewish  and  Gen- 
tile believers  as  to  the  principles  of  Gospel  truth.  This  leads  to 
the  topic  of  its  authority,  which  is  recognized  as  Divine,  in  view  of 
the  presence  of  the  inspired  element,  and  of  the  specific  assertion  of 
such  element  in  its  final  decision.  Then,  the  material  of  the  Coun- 
cil is  noted — not  simply  the  Apostles,  not  merely  the  ministry, 
but  also  the  brethren,  the  laity.  This  leads  to  the  inquiry  as  to  its 
Ecumenical  character,  and  the  position  argued  is,  that  it  was  not ; 
that  strictly  speaking,  such  Council  never  has  been  held,  and  never, 
in  all  probability,  will  be;  that  even  the  work  of  such  councils 
as  those  which  were  called  general  is  better  done,  in  the  present 
condition  of  the  Church  and  the  world,  by  other  agencies ;  that  if 
resorted  to,  under  the  present  condition  of  things,  as  superfluous, 
they  would  probably  be  mischievous.  The  sermon  closes  with  call- 
ing attention  to  features  of  this  Conference  to  be  noted  and  followed. 
First,  its  spirit  of  forbearing  toleration  in  regard  to  existing  differ- 
ences— the  spirit  of  Christian  breadth  and  geniality,  as  opposed  to 
that  of  Jewish  bigotry  and  exclusiveness;  secondly,  its  practical- 
ness; thirdly,  its  missionary  element;  in  these  respects  a  model  to 
the  body  before  whom  the  sermon  was  delivered.  The  whole  closing 
with  the  important  suggestion  that  the  main  work  of  the  Convention 
ought  to  have  reference  to  that  characteristic  of  the  Church  which 
is  internal.  At  this  same  Convention,  Dr.  Sparrow,  as  Chairman 
of  the  Committee  on  the  State  of  the  Church,  made  the  report, 
perhaps  one  of  the  most  striking  and  interesting  presented  to  that 
body. 


214  MEMOIR    OP 

Allusions  in  these  letters,  to  Mr.  Jerome,  indicate  a  change 
which  had  taken  place — one,  to  the  Doctor,  of  deep  and  tender 
interest — the  first  break  in  his  household  circle,  in  the  marriage 
of  his  eldest  daughter  to  the  Eev.  J.  A.  Jerome,  whose  field  of 
labor,  in  Western  New  York,  of  course,  necessitated  a  distant 
separation.  Dr.  Sparrow  lived  to  see  his  large  family  reduced  to 
himself  and  Mrs.  S.  and  one  remaining  child.  "  For  long  years," 
to  use  the  language  of  one  who  for  a  considerable  time  was  an 
inmate,  "for  long  years  his  was  an  unbroken  family.  But,  oh,  how 
short  a  time  it  took  to  scatter  it.  Mrs.  Sparrow  once,  and  only 
once,  referred  to  the  sad  change  in  this  respect.  Writing,  a  few 
days  after  Christmas,  about  two  years  before  she  was  called  away, 
she  said, '  I  felt  as  if  I  could  not  bear  it ;  the  absence  of  my  children, 
with  the  stillness,  was  more  than  I  could  bear.  But  I  hope  that 
feeling  has  passed  away,  never  to  return  again.'  "  The  feelings  of 
which  this  language  is  an  expression  were  also  fully  shared  by  the 
father  of  this  separated  household,  and  with  his  large  forethought 
and  paternal  tenderness,  the  first  separation,  in  its  deep  significance, 
was  fully  recognized. 

For  the  next  year,  1853,  we  have  a  letter  of  April  9th,  of  some 
interest.  At  the  Convention  of  the  Diocese  for  that  year,  held  at 
Wheeling,  he  was  unexpectedly  called  upon  to  preach  the  opening 
sermon,  the  appointed  preacher  not  being  able  to  be  present.  The 
sermon  was  one  of  a  simple,  practical  character,  upon  the  text: 
"  For  me  to  live  is  Christ,  to  die  is  gain,"  exhibiting  the  spirit  of 
Paul — desiring  to  be  with  Christ,  and  at  the  same  time  willing  and 
desiring  to  remain  on  earth  to  do  Christ's  work;  in  other  words,  to 
glorify  Christ,  whether  by  life  or  by  death — as  peculiarly  the  spirit 
of  the  Christian  believer  and  the  Christian  ministry.  This  same 
sermon  was  preached  in  the  Seminary  Chapel,  only  a  few  months 
before  his  death,  and  constitutes  a  beautiful  delineation  of  the 
genuine  Christian  character;  a  remarkable  contrast,  as  to  its  style 
of  excellence,  to  that  preached  the  year  before,  at  the  opening  of 
the  Convention  at  Kichmond. 

The  letter  to  which  allusion  has  been  already  made,  written  to 
-one  of  his  old  pupils,  and  preceding  the  Convention  in  point  of  time 
a  few  weeks,  comes  in  properly  at  this  point.  Portions  of  it  are 
more  severe  than  was  his  usual  mode  of  expression.  But  it  was 
with  reference  to  points  upon  which  he  felt  deeply,  and  to  errors 
and  assertions  which  he  regarded  as  compromising  alike  the  spirit 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  215 

and  substance  of  Protestant  Christianity.  Men  who  feel,  as  Dr. 
Sparrow  did,  that  the  conflict  between  the  two  great  parties  in 
our  Church  was  one,  not  of  incidentals,  but  of  essentials,  going 
down  to  the  very  foundations  of  Christian  life  and  Christian  doc- 
trine, will  make  allowance,  if  it  be  needed,  for  such  language. 


To  EEV.  E.  H.  CANFIELD. 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  April  9,  1853. 
"  REV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER  : — 

"  I  have  long  desired  to  drop  you  a  line  by  way  of  remembrance, 
but  have  been  prevented  by  various  obstacles.  I  now  write  in  the 
midst  of  a  sick  family,  though,  I  trust  in  God,  convalescent.  You 
have  learned  from  our  friend,  Dr.  D.,  perhaps,  of  the  condition  in 
which  he  found  us.  But  I  would  speak  of  him  rather  than  ourselves. 
His  kindness  has  at  once  been  very  great  and  very  unexpected.  It 
really  seemed  most  providential  that  he  should  visit  us  when  he  did. 
He  came  on,  in  the  abundance  of  his  benevolence,  to  see  B.,  and  he 
found  the  whole  family  just  taken  down  of  the  scarlet  fever;  at  least, 
all  but  one  were  then,  or  have  been  since.  His  visit  itself  was  better 
than  medicine.  Those  for  whom  he  prescribed  in  New  York  last 
summer,  all,  had  learned  to  put  unbounded  confidence  in  his  skill, 
and  his  coming  so  opportunely  increased  that  confidence.  Hie  pre- 
scriptions, too,  have  all  had,  so  far  as  we  can  see,  a  happy  effect.  From 
my  observation  of  Dr.  D.  when  here,  I  look  upon  him  as  destined 
to  be  one  of  the  first  men  of  his  profession,  and  I  have  had  some 
experience  as  well  as  observation  to  guide  me.  I  have  been  much 
benefited  by  his  advice,  and  you  know  /  am  '  a  hard  case.' 

"But  enough  of  domestic  egotism.  I  received  a  pamphlet  by 
'one  Veritas.'  Don't  be  offended.  An  author  of  Charles  the 
Second's  day  speaks  of  one  John  Milton,  'a  writer  of  dull  verse.' 
I  expect  I  am  indebted  to  you  as  the  sender  and  the  author?  In 
any  view,  you  have  my  thanks.  The  work  is  an  effectual  exposure 
of  that  movement  which,  in  horticultural  phrase,  would  raise  public 
opinion  in  our  Church,  as  a  man  raises  in  a  hot-house  exotics  from  a 
tropical  region,  and  of  those  who  now  say,  with  all  the  ostentation 
and  tyranny  of  Louis  xiv,  but  without  his  reason  and  truth,  '  I  am 
the  State,  I  am  the  Church.'  My  only  regret,  when  I  read  such, 
blistering  and  excoriating  productions,  is  that  those  at  whom  they 
are  directed  have  the  hide  of  a  rhinoceros;  still,  it  is  well  to* 


216  MEMOIR    OF 

keep  at  work.     Even  the  buffalo  and  the  alligator,  though  well 
cased,  are  not  invulnerable. 

"Our  friends  in  Baltimore  realize  this  fact  just  now.  The  per- 
version of  Baker  must  be  producing  a  great  sensation.  He  was 
the  most  popular  man  they  ever  had  as  assistant  at  St.  Paul's.  He 
was  a  pupil  and  favorite  of  the  Bishop,  and  had  been  talked  of  by 
some  as  his  assistant.  Mr.  H.,  an  eminent  merchant,  who  left 
Christ  Church  on  account  of  Dr.  John's  dispute  with  the  Bishop, 
used  to  go  a  long  way,  with  his  family,  to  Baker's  church,  thinking 
him  the  model  minister  of  our  communion,  and  has  scouted  all 
intimations  made  by  a  friend  of  mine  that  he  was  inclining  Rome- 
ward.  In  addition  to  all  this,  he  is  a  respectable  man  in  character, 
above  the  common  standard  in  talent.  It  cannot  be  said  of  him 
that  he  is  weak  or  crazy.  Yet  he  is  gone  !  Will  their  eyes  never 
be  opened  ? 

"I  have  lately  been  to  Princeton,  and  wished  that  I  could  go  on 
to  New  York,  and  see  how  you  get  along.  From  all  I  can  learn, 
the  transplantation  has  taken  place  without  retarding  the  growth 
and  flourishing  condition  of  the  tree  and  its  capacity  to  bear  fruit. 
But  how  comes  on  the  old  parish  ?  Who  is  likely  to  get  it  ?  I 

see  my  friend is  casting  a  wistful  eye  in  that  direction.     They 

need  a  peculiar  sort  of  man,  on  account  of  the  contiguity  of  the 
Seminary.     May  the  Lord  send  them  such. 

"You  have  seen  what  trouble  R.  has  got  up  in  his  church  in 
Louisville.  Mr.  Fowles,  with  great  simplicity,  remarked  the  other 
day,  he  did  not  know  why  it  was  that  so  many  of  the  men  who 
preach  the  doctrines  of  grace  have  bad  tempers.  He  is,  himself, 
although  dogmatical,  not  ill-natured,  far  from  it.  All  here  is  in 
statu  quo.  If  you  should  not  be  in  Europe,  I  hope  to  see  you  as 
I  go  to  Boston  this  summer.  Believe  me,  as  ever, 

"  Your  friend  and  brother,  WM.  SPAREOW." 


It  was  on  his  return  from  the  Convention  at  Wheeling  that  the 
writer  visited,  with  Dr.  Sparrow  and  others,  the  church  at  Cumber- 
land, where,  for  several  hours,  they  were  detained.  It  was  just 
as  the  afternoon  service  was  closing,  the  congregation  being  small, 
the  choristers,  in  fact,  constituting  the  main  portion.  Among  other 
objects  of  interest,  was  a  chancel  window,  with  the  figure  of  the 
Saviour,  larger  than  life,  with  various  subordinate  scriptural  accom- 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,  D.  D.  217 

paniments.  "What  do  you  think  of  it,  Doctor?"  was  the  question 
of  one  of  the  party.  "  It  must  tend,"  was  the  reply,  in  substance, 
"to  a  sensuous  religion.  If  people,  in  worship,  surround  them- 
selves with  such  objects,  to  aid  devotional  feeling,  they  will  depend 
upon  them.  After  a  while,  they  cannot  worship  without  them,  and 
then  worship,  especially  that  of  the  masses,  does  not  go  beyond 
them." 

To  A  DAUGHTER. 

"OAKWOOD,  March  16,  1853. 
"  MY  DEAR  B.:— 

'"Better  late  than  never.'  Your  congratulations  on  my  reach- 
ing another  birthday,  received  four  days  ago,  would  have  been 
responded  to  more  promptly  but  for  my  great  indisposition  of  body 
— of  body,  not  of  mind ;  for  as  it  is  pleasant  to  receive  such  com- 
munications, knowing,  as  I  do,  that  they  are  not  empty  compliments, 
so  is  it  pleasant  to  reply  to  them.  I  am  pleased  to  find  that  you 
have  got  hold  of  a  work  in  German  at  once  pleasant  and  profitable 
to  read.  I  have  frequently  thought  of  trying  to  find  some  one  in 
New  York  who  was  acquainted  with  German  literature,  and  to  put 
a  sum  of  money  into  his  hands  that  he  might  select  some  suit- 
able works  for  your  study,  but  have  been  prevented  by  my 
straitened  means.  I  rejoice  that  the  Seminary  library  has  fur- 
nished you  a  copy  of  Gellert,  and  I  trust  it  contains  other  treasures 
of  a  similar  sort.  During  the  next  vacation  you  might  make  search 
in  person.  It  is  hard  to  find  exactly  what  you  need.  Since  the 
last  century,  the  second  quarter  of  it,  there  has  been  a  subtle  poison 
diffused  through  nearly  all  the  classical  literature  of  that  gifted 
land,  which  operates  at  once  secretly  and  powerfully  on  the  reader's 
mind.  Schiller  is  far  from  being  an  exception;  and,  although  I 
trust  your  mind  and  heart  are  too  well  grounded  in  the  truth  as  it 
is  in  Jesus  ever  to  be  removed  from  that  firm,  that  only  founda- 
tion of  human  hope  and  comfort,  yet  we  know  that  it  is  a  universal 
maxim,  '  Evil  communications  corrupt  good  manners,'  in  a  greater 
or  less  degree,  and  that,  unless  on  constant  and  prayerful  guard, 
intercourse  with  dead  authors  of  unsound  sentiments,  like  inter- 
course with  living  persons  of  similar  views,  is  liable  to  prove 
injurious,  even  to  those  of  advanced  years  and  mature  minds.  This 
is  an  evil,  however,  which  we  have  to  encounter  everywhere,  not 
excepting  even  our  own  language.  In  English  literature  you  are 


218  MEMOIR    OP 

continually  met  in  your  studies  by  things  offensive  to  a  Christian 
taste,  and  repugnant  to  a  Christian  judgment.  In  the  literature  of 
our  own  country,  if  it  is  not  premature  to  use  such  an  expression, 
there  is  less  that  is  objectionable  than  in  that  of  any  other  land, 
thanks  to  the  strong  religious  influence  which  pervades  society, 
handed  down  from  the  first  settlers  of  these  colonies,  and  kept  alive 
by  our  free  Bible  and  free  political  institutions.  But  even  we  have 
not  a  morally  faultless  literature,  and  I  think  there  are  some  symp- 
toms of  the  growth  amongst  us  of  a  literature,  not,  indeed,  positively 
irreligious — public  opinion  will  not  tolerate  that — but  at  least  nega- 
tively so.  Perhaps,  indeed,  until  Christianity  leavens  the  whole 
mass  of  society,  so  long  as  there  is  leisure  and  education  among  us, 
we  may  look  upon  such  a  godless  literature  as  one  of  the  offences 
which  must  needs  come,  and  which  belongs  to  the  evils  of  this  pro- 
bationary state. 

"  Perhaps  our  part  is,  while  we  deplore  the  evil  and  strive  to  abate 
it,  not  to  flee  from  it  altogether,  but,  in  the  strength  of  the  Lord, 
meet  it  and  vanquish  it,  and  improve  the  victory  to  God's  glory. 
Perhaps  it  belongs  to  us  to  borrow  some  of  the  riches  of  unsanctified 
talent,  as  the  Israelites  did  of  the  wealth  of  Egypt,  and  so,  spoiling 
the  enemy,  restore  the  perverted  treasures  to  their  proper  use. 

"  In  the  spirit  of  these  remarks,  I  would  advise  that,  in  connection 
with  Milner,  you  read  Gibbon.  Civil  history  is,  of  course,  the  sub- 
stratum of  sacred  and  ecclesiastical  history,  as  natural  life  is  the 
basis  of  spiritual;  and  there  are  none  of  the  older  histories  by 
Englishmen,  perhaps,  if  any  by  other  hands,  comparable,  in  point  of 
learning  and  ability,  to  that  of  Gibbon ;  nor  do  I  think  he  is  very  dan- 
gerous to  one  at  all  grounded  in  the  Christian  faith.  His  spirit  is 
so  bad  that  it  arouses  the  indignation  of  the  Christian ;  and  if  he  is 
only  set  right  in  regard  to  a  few  facts,  on  which  by  sophistry  or 
misstatement  Gibbon  might  mislead  him,  I  should  think  he  would 
be  rather  established  than  shaken  in  the  faith  by  his  sneers,  and 
cynicism,  and  indelicacy.  I  did  not  know  that  Bowdler  had  pub- 
lished an  expurgated  edition  of  the  Decline  and  Fall,  as  he  published 
a  Family  Shakspeare.  Be  that  as  it  may,  Milman  has  published 
an  edition  in  full,  with  corrective  notes,  partly  original,  and  partly 
selected  from  Guizot,  who  did  the  same  thing  in  French.  A  copy 
of  this,  I  doubt  not,  could  be  borrowed  of  some  one  in  the  Seminary. 
When  you  come  to  the  chapter  where  Gibbon  attempts  to  account 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  219 

for  the  wonderful  propagation  of  Christianity  through  moral  means, 
against  the  physical  force  of  the  world,  you  ought  to  stop  and  read 
some  one  of  the  many  triumphant  answers  to  his  miserable  and 
transparent  sophistries.  It  will  form  an  agreeable  episode.  So, 
when  you  reach  the  frustrated  attempt  of  Julian  to  rebuild  the 
temple,  you  should  pause  and  peruse  what  Warburton  has  written 
on  the  subject;  though  this  last  topic  is  not  at  all,  like  the  former, 
a  vital  one.  If,  however,  I  ought  to  add,  Bowdler  has  done  as  you 
say,  I  would  prefer  that  you  get  that.  It  is  not  well,  if  it  can  be 
avoided,  to  bring  the  mind  in  contact  with  anything  impure,  even 
where  there  is  an  antidote  at  hand;  a  cure  seldom  restores  the  mind 
to  the  original  health. 

"You  judge  wisely  in  seeking  to  perfect  your  education  in  all 
substantial  things.  If  I  were  present  at  the  Woman's  Bights 
Society  meetings,  there  is  one  of  their  rights  which  I  would  be 
quite  ready  to  advocate  and  support,  and  that  is,  the  right  of  self- 
support.  Until  a  young  woman  has  the  means  of  maintaining  her- 
self, by  her  property  or  industry,  she  cannot  be  independent,  or  be 
in  a  situation  to  preserve,  under  all  circumstances,  her  self-respect 
and  true  dignity.  I  desire,  more  than  I  can  express,  that  you  and 
your  sisters  be  qualified,  by  your  heads  or  by  your  hands,  to  earn 
your  own  livelihood,  no  thanks  to  anybody  or  anything,  except  that 
constitution  of  society  which  gives  rise  to  the  wants  by  supplying 
which  industry  lives,  and  that  Power  above,  which  has  established 
such  a  constitution.  When  taken  away  from  you,  if  I  should  leave 
you  all  thus  qualified,  though  penniless,  I  should  feel  that  I  left  you 
rich.  But  there  is  an  education  more  precious  still  than  that  of 
the  head  or  hands,  the  education  of  the  heart ;  let  us  take  heed 
that  that  be  not  neglected,  nay,  that  it  have  our  paramount  regard. 
This  education  is  for  eternity,  and  eternity  is  very  near  at  hand. 

"  But  I  must  close.  The  Lord  bless  you,  my  daughter,  and  give 
you  health  of  body,  mind  and  heart. 

"  Ever  your  affectionate  father,  WM.  SPARROW. 

"Miss  E.  R.  Sparrow,  Oakwood." 

From  this  time  until  the  close  of  the  period  included  in  this 
chapter,  there  is  little  of  a  specific  nature  to  fill  up  the  interval. 
Those  of  the  deepest  interest  to  himself  were,  doubtless,  the  changes 
taking  place  in  his  family,  the  beginning  of  which,  the  marriage  of 


220  MEMOIR    OF 

his  eldest  daughter,  has  been  already  noticed.  Three  others,  of 
the  same  character,  the  marriage  of  Mrs.  Dashiel,  Mrs.  Grammer 
and  Mrs.  Smith,  took  place  during  this  same  interval.  The  absence 
of  his  sons  at  the  University  during  the  latter  part  of  this  time 
had  also  its  effect  in  reducing  the  number  of  his  household.  After 
the  departure  of  Mrs.  Smith,  in  1859,  with  the  exception  of  vaca- 
tion times,  the  large  household  of  eleven  or  twelve  was  brought 
down  to  four.  "He  often,"  says  a  correspondent,  alluding  to  this 
time,  "spoke  of  this  change,  and  it  was  evidently  a  painful  one  to 
him."  After  a  time,  doubtless,  the  visits  of  his  children  and  grand- 
children helped  to  alleviate  the  change,  and  to  present  new  objects 
of  interest  and  affection.  It  doubtless,  too,  had  its  compensating 
result,  in  its  removal  of  the  painful  forebodings  of  anxiety  in 
reference  to  the  welfare  of  so  many  dependent  ones  in  case  of  his 
own  departure. 

The  correspondence  of  this  interval  at  command  is  more  full  than 
that  of  any  other ;  this,  with  the  reminiscences  of  one  or  two  of  his 
pupils,  will  occupy  most  of  the  remaining  portion  of  this  chapter. 
The  letters  are,  many  of  them,  to  former  pupils  in  their  various 
fields  of  labor. 

' "  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  January,  16,  1854. 
"  DEAR  BROTHER  SYLE  : — 

"  Your  letter,  with  the  parcels,  was  brought  to  me  from  town  on 
Saturday,  as  I  was  lying  sick  in  my  bed.  It  was  a  cordial  to  me. 
I  had  been  longing  to  hear  from  you,  and  had  I  not  had,  during 
the  last  two  months,  an  unusual  share  of  sickness,  keeping  me 
behindhand  in  my  duties,  I  should  have  endeavored  to  find  out  your 
whereabouts,  and  write  you.  It  was  pleasant  to  be  remembered 
by  you,  and  to  receive  such  a  token  of  your  friendship. 

"  I  do  not  wonder  that  you  have  been  '  sobered.'  Wave  has  followed 
wave;  'the  clouds  have  returned  after  the  rain,'  and  you  may  be 
tempted  sometimes,  I  can  readily  believe,  to  say,  that  'All  these 
things  are  against  me.'  But  it  is  a  temptation,  indeed,  and  should 
be  treated  as  such.  The  waves  are  controlled  by  our  covenant  God  ; 
the  clouds  are  moved  at  his  command;  and  He  does  nothing  arbi- 
trarily nor  heedlessly.  There  is  a  reason,  wise,  and  good,  and 
gracious,  for  it  all.  Kemember  that  the  Lord  has  set  you  in  a  very 
important  position  in  His  Church.  Every  Christian  is  a  city  set 
upon  a  hill;  every  minister  more  so;  and  every  missionary  most 


WILLIAM    SPARED  W,   D.  D.  221 

of  all.  For  great  work,  great  preparation  is  necessary ;  and  in  all 
the  trials  to  which  you  are  subjected  (and  your  friends,  those  under 
this  roof  at  least,  know  and  feel  them  to  be  great),  you  are  only 
acquiring  meetness  for  your  work.  That  work — how  great  it  is ! 
Who  can  estimate  it  rightly?  Who  can  adequately  span  it?  The 
mission  to  Athens  has  its  importance,  and  much  more  that  to 
Africa,  for  it  relates  to  this  country  as  much  as  that;  two  conti- 
nents are  implicated  in  it.  But  the  mission  to  China  transcends 
them  all.  Providence  says  so;  it  is  not  the  mere  inference  of  man. 
All  the  indications  seem  to  promise  that  Chinese  idolatry,  which  in 
extent  so  far  exceeds  every  other,  is  destined  to  fall  as  Jericho  fell. 
There  is  not  to  be  a  mere  breach  in  the  wall,  the  whole  circuit  of 
that  wall  is  to  be  prostrated  at  once.  Now,  then,  the  man  that  is 
vouchsafed  a  part  in  this,  the  most  sudden  and  extensive  moral 
revolution  which  ever  took  place  in  the  world,  should  expect  that 
the  Lord  would  deal  with  him  not  exactly  like  other  men,  but  in  a 
manner  corresponding  with  the  magnitude  and  extent  of  the  work 
to  which  he  is  called.  Let  this,  then,  be  your  consolation,  and 
endeavor  to  learn  from  the  providences  to  which  you  are  subjected 
the  lessons  which  it  is  God's  design  to  teach  you.  9 

"You  speak  of  the  intercourse  you  have  had  in  Hartford,  New 
York,  and  elsewhere.  Doubtless  you  have  met  many  men,  and 
many  minds.  After  you  have  completed  your  tour,  you  will  be 
able  to  give  a  tolerable  idea  of  the  state  of  the  Church — if  any- 
body can.  I  add  this  condition,  for  there  is  such  an  endless  variety 
of  sentiment,  and  doctrine,  and  character  among  us,  that  I  am  not 
certain  any  very  important  and  clear  general  conclusion  can  be 
arrived  at.  We  are  in  a  very  chaotic  state. 

"In  regard  to  the  'Epistle  Congratulatory/  I  should  think  it 
might  be  well,  if  a  second  edition  is  contemplated,  to  wait  till  the 
following  explanation,  to  which  you  refer,  has  appeared.  It  might 
then  be  well  for  the  author  to  republish,  with  a  preface,  in  plain, 
didactic  language,  explaining  why  he  adopted  the  Socratic  Ecpwveta 
in  the  epistle;  how  such  a  style  of  composition  should  be  inter- 
preted; and  that  the  whole  transaction  which  gave  occasion  to  it 
was  of  such  a  character  as  required  to  be  deeply  impressed  on  the 
mind  of  the  Church,  otherwise  the  same  thing  might  be  repeated 
again,  to  the  great  detriment  of  her  character,  and  of  the  reputa- 
tion of  our  holy  religion.  It  might  be  shown  that  some  very 
impressive  method  of  instruction  was  needful,  because  the  Bishops 


222  MEMOIR    OF 

had  proved  themselves,  in  previous  cases,  by  no  means  apt  scholars. 
Bishop  Smith's  trial  was  a  most  bungled  affair.  Bishop  B.  T. 
Onderdonk's  was  decidedly  worse;  and  Bishop  Doane's  first  non- 
trial,  though  it  had  been  so  long  discussed  in  the  papers,  in  every 
Church  coterie,  and  at  every  fireside,  and  though  it  had  led  to  such 
discussion  that  one  would  think  every  Bishop  was  in  full  possession 
of  all  the  facts  and  principles  necessary  to  give  steadiness  to  their 
action,  and  wisdom  to  their  judgment,  was  more  glaringly  incon- 
sistent than  any  that  preceded.  Now,  if  after  all  this  training,  if 
they  could  be  trained  by  experience  at  all,  the  Bishops  came  to  the 
last  meeting  at  Camden  no  better  prepared  than  the  event  showed, 
it  was  plain  their  conduct  called  for  full  and  unsparing  exposure. 
They  needed  to  be  taught  a  lesson  which  they  could  not  soon  forget. 
They  needed  to  be  shown  that  they  were  subject  to  the  same  rules 
of  propriety,  and  judgment,  and  respect  for  the  opinions  of  man- 
kind, that  other  men  are,  and  that  no  figment  of  '  inherent  rights ' 
was  able  to  secure  them  impunity  when  they  transgressed  against 
them. 

"'I  understood  your  letter  was  brought  to  Alexandria  by  Mr.  D. 
Had  I  been  able,  I  should  have  gone  to  see  him.  Please  remember 
me  to*him  most  kindly.  I  pray  the  Lord  to  bless  him,  and  make 
him  eminently  useful  in  His  Church.  The  laity  seem  specially 
called  on,  in  these  times,  to  make  themselves  felt  in  ecclesiastical 
affairs.  By  keeping  themselves  so  far  in  sympathy  with  the  clergy 
that  they  shall  be  able  to  understand  them,  and  know  how  they  are 
affected  by  arguments  presented,  and  by  maintaining  in  their  own 
hearts  a  lively  sympathy  with  the  holy  themes,  and  the  devotional 
spirit  of  the  Gospel,  they  can,  in  my  humble  opinion,  do  more  for 
the  true  furtherance  of  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  than  many  who 
are  exclusively  set  apart  for  His  work  of  the  ministry.  This  holds 
especially  of  lawyers.  Do  you  know  W  ?  He  is  one  of  those  men ; 
a  lawyer  of  considerable  standing,  a  man  of  fine  education,  and  of 
most  lovely  character.  I  hope  you  will  get  acquainted  with  him. 
Hoping  to  hear  from  you  soon  again,  I  remain,  my  dear  Mr.  S., 
"Ever  most  truly  yours,  W.  SPARROW." 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  November  18,  1854. 
"  MY  DEAR  J:— 

"  Your  account  of  your  parish  is  very  pleasing.     I  pray  you 
may  continue  to  be  encouraged,  and  be  given  to  see  the  Lord's 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  223 

work  prosper  in  your  hands.  It  must  be  unpleasant  to  have  such 
an  overseer;  but,  by  decency  and  order  in  all  things  ecclesiastical, 
you  can  make  the  evil  merely  negative.  Who  is  he  that  will  harm 
you,  if  you  be  a  follower  of  that  which  is  good,  especially  canoni- 
cal and  rubrical?  You  ask  in  regard  to  certain  Universalists, 
heads  of  families,  in  your  congregation.  So  far  as  the  pulpit  is 
concerned,  I  would  not  know  the  fact  that  they  are  such,  except 
carefully  to  avoid  giving  the  impression  that  you  are  preaching  at 
them.  In  my  sermons  I  would  imply  the  doctrine  they  reject, 
rather  than  formally  discuss  it.  In  most  cases,  indeed,  this  method 
is  best  everywhere.  The  doctrine  is  not  systematically  discussed 
anywhere  in  Scripture,  though  it  is  by  implication  taught  every- 
where. In  my  intercourse  with  them  and  their  families,  pretty 
much  the  same  course  should  be  pursued.  Controversy  should  at 
least  be  avoided.  You  will  remember  that  the  family  is  more  than 
the  head  of  the  family  to  a  faithful  pastor.  What  you  want  is  to 
get  a  religious  influence  over  the  whole  family,  especially  the  young. 

"  I  like  your  notion  of  studying  some  philosophy.  Reid's  '  Intel- 
lectual Powers/  the  edition  by  Walker,  would  be  a  good  book. 
Walker  has  also  edited  some  of  Stewart,  which  I  have  not  seen, 
but  which  would  be  good,  if  you  cannot  get  Reid.  Walker's  notes 
on  Reid  are  chiefly  taken  from  Sir  William  Hamilton,  the  most 
learned  metaphysician  that  Great  Britain  has  ever  had. 

"  I  am  pleased,  also,  that  you  have  taken  hold  of  writing  with 
vigor.  Diligently  and  laboriously  pursued,  it  is  profitable  every 
way.  Extemporaneous  writing  is  not  of  much  benefit.  But  when 
we  labor  to  have  matter,  suitable  matter,  to  arrange  it  rightly,  and 
to  bring  it  forth  with  true  art,  which,  of  course,  is  art  concealed, 
there  is  not  only  the  immediate  effect  of  profiting  the  hearer,  but 
the  further  effect  of  disciplining  one's  own  mind.  Most  of  my 
education  came  in  this  way.  I  owed  nothing  to  my  teachers. 

"  Last  Sunday  I  was  with  W.  I  preached  once  on  Saturday, 
and  twice  on  Sunday.  They  say  that  he  has  become  a  high  Cal- 
vinist,  and  hardly  thinks  it  right  to  exhort  sinners !  It  may  be  he 
did  not  like  my  sermon.  But  he  is  to  be  pitied.  His  affliction 
has  been  great;  and  he  always  will  have  peculiarities  of  manner, 
not  always  perfectly 'agreeable.  The  Seminary  has  exactly  forty 
students,  promising  young  men.  The  utmost  love  to  W.  and  W. 
"Affectionately,  WILLIAM  SPAEROW." 


224  MEMOIR    OF 

"October  6,  1854. 


.  E.  W.  SYLE:— 

"  Much  that  you  say  about  '  Evangelical  party-men  '  sounds 
strange  to  me.  They  are  but  men,  and  no  doubt  very  imperfect, 
and  not  exempt  from  party  spirit.  Of  two  things  I  cannot  have  a 
doubt  :  that  Evangelical  principles,  so-called,  are  the  principles  of 
the  Bible,  and  of  the  Church,  mother  and  daughter;  and  that 
these  principles  have  been  the  life-blood  of  the  Missionary  cause, 
both  foreign  and  domestic,  in  this  country,  especially  the  foreign. 
I  say  this,  for  the  fact  is  undoubted,  that  Evangelical  principles  do 
avowedly  advocate  the  cultivation  of  the  whole  Missionary  field, 
while  the  opposing  principles  are,  to  say  the  least,  comparatively 
indifferent  to  a  portion  of  it.  Besides,  however  imperfectly  Evan- 
gelical men  have  carried  out  their  principles,  they  have  done  nearly 
all  that  has  been  done  in  that  way  ;  and  if  I  know  anything  about 
the  secret  workings  of  their  minds  and  hearts  in  this  matter,  the 
great  absorbing  motive  with  them,  in  what  they  do,  is  a  regard  to 
Christ's  command,  a  love  for  His  name,  a  jealousy  for  His  honor,  a 
desire  to  see  all  men  blessed  with  the  Gospel.  I  am  persuaded  the 
Searcher  of  hearts  knows  that,  at  least,  it  is  not  party  spirit  which 
elicits  money  from  their  pockets.  But  I  feel  myself  at  strange 
work  in  thus  writing  to  you. 

"As  to  avoiding  a  misconstruction  of  our  conduct  on  the  part  of 
others,  I  regard  it,  within  certain  limits,  as  our  interest  and 
bounden  duty.  We  owe  it  to  the  Master  whom  we  serve,  as  well  as 
our  own  family  and  friends.  I  am  conscious  of  having  erred,  in  that 
particular,  in  times  past." 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  September  13,  1855. 
"BEV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER:  — 

"  I  have  an  itching  curiosity,  and  I  write  to  ease  it.  I  am  told 
that  you  are  going  to  Kenyon;  as  you  love  me,  tell  me,  is  it  so,  and 
also,  anything  else  in  regard  to  yourself  and  the  Church  which  you 
think  proper,  and  can  find  leisure  to  communicate.  Ohio  seems  to 
be  feathering  her  nest  from  Virginia.  I  hope  she  will  not  reduce 
our  nest  to  the  bare  sticks.  I  do  not  like  the  idea  of  your  leaving 
us,  but  if  Providence  so  directs,  what  am  I,  that  I  should  object, 
especially  as  next  to  Virginia  I  love  Ohio. 

"I  have  not  been  able  to  make  you  a  visit  this  vacation,  partly 
because  I  have  been  engaged  to  fill  the  pulpit  of  St.  Paul's,  Alex- 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  225 

andria.  Perhaps  I  may  be  able  to  visit  you  if  you  remain  with  us 
during  the  term.  By  an  arrangement  with  my  brother  Professors, 
I  can  make  a  short  trip  in  term  time  as  well  as  any  other. 

"  With  kind  remembrances  to  Mrs. ,  I  am,  truly, 

"  Your  friend  and  brother,  WM.  SPARROW. 

"  Rev.  C.  Walker." 

REV.  E.  W.  SYLE. 

"October  26,  1854. 
"DEAR  BROTHER: — 

"I  am  most  happy  to  answer  your  letter  of  the  20th  thus 
promptly,  if  it  can  in  the  least  cheer  you  and  your  dear  wife,  as 
you  are  about  to  set  out  on  another  stage  in  the  pilgrimage  of  life. 
The  roving  state  of  life  which  belongs  to  a  missionary,  and  the 
frequent  breaking  up  of  associations  connected  with  it,  have  one 
great  advantage;  they  leave  fewer  ties  to  be  rent  asunder  by  the 
last  great  separation.  This,  I  have  no  doubt,  is,  in  part,  the  secret 
of  the  peaceful,  and  even  joyous,  end  which  has  closed  the  career 
of  so  many  missionaries.  Their  previous  discipline  had  weaned 
them  well  from  all  mere  earthly  attachments  to  persons,  places  and 
things." 

To  THE  SAME. 

"February  18,  1855. 

"  Dr.  Van  Kleek  was  here  about  a  fortnight  ago.  I  was  sick, 
and  only  saw  him  for  a  few  moments.  He  addressed  the  students 
for  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  in  an  appeal  in  behalf  of  Oregon  and 
Bishop  Scott.  It  was  the  fittest  possible  way  of  spending  the  few 
moments  he  had  to  spare.  No  field  of  labor  on  which  our  Church 
has  entered,  not  excepting  China,  Africa,  Greece,  or  even  California, 
can  compete  with  it  in  some  respects.  It  is  the  least  attractive  of 
all,  and  the  least  likely  to  be  thought  of.  If  any  one  happens  to 
turn  his  thoughts  to  the  Pacific  board,  before  he  can  reach  that 
sterner  and  colder  region  of  the  coast,  he  is  attracted  by  '  the  gold 
region/  a  place  harder  for  the  navigator  to  pass  than  Circe  in 'the 
days  of  Ulysses. 

"I  thank  you  for  the  two  copies  of  the  'Oriental.'  The  editor 
of  it  (the  Rev.  Mr.  Speer)  is  an  old  Kenyon  student.  When  you 
see  him,  remember  me  to  him.  He  seems  to  be  setting  himself  for 
the  defence  of  the  Chinese  against  the  power  and  oppression  of  the 
Anglo-American.  We  have  dealt  hardly  with  the  poor  Indian  and 
15 


226  MEMOIR    OF 

Negro;  I  hope  we  shall  not  push  the  poor  Chinese  to  the  wall  in  the 
same  way.  Some  restrictions  on  their  political,  if  not  their  civil 
and  social  interests,  may,  for  aught  I  know,  be  indispensable  for  a 
little  time,  but  I  hope  nothing  of  that  kind  will  be  permanent,  or 
in  the  slightest  degree  interfere  with  the  general  progress  and  im- 
provement of  the  race.  A  semi-civilized  people  ought  to  be  so 
dealt  with  that  they  will  soon  become  a  wholly  civilized  people. 
But  I  may  be  talking  in  the  dark,  and  at  random. 

"  Pray,  what  is  your  decision  in  the  present  diversity  of  opinions 
about  the  movements  of  the  'rebels'  in  China?  I  cannot  give  up 
the  idea  that  good  is  designed,  in  the  providence  of  God,  by  this 
movement.  The  fact  that  the  leader  is  said  to  claim  divine  honors, 
does  not  stumble  me.  Hero-worship  is  better  than  worship  of  wood 
and  stone.  Besides,  it  is  a  change,  just  what  the  immovable 
Chinese  need.  And  again,  the  adoption  of  the  Decalogue  as  their 
moral  code  must  be  a  great  moral  advance  with  them ;  and,  unless 
they  deal  with  it  as  do  the  Romanists,  must  be  a  great  check  upon 
all  forms  of  idolatry.  But  there,  too,  I  may  be  groping  in  the  dark. 

"  Mr.  •  told  me,  at  dinner,  that  twenty  years  ago,  when  he 

took  charge,  the  congregation  was  not  one-half  as  large,  nor  one- 
quarter  as  rich  as  it  is  now,  yet  it  then  gave  more,  and  more 
cheerfully,  to  religious  objects  than  it  does  now!  There  was 
genuine  naivete  in  that!" 

To  THE  SAME.  "July  7,  1855. 

"I  have  lately  had  an  experience  of  the  Alexandria  people  that 
has  pleased  me.  I  have  collected  $1200  there  towards  the  enlarge- 
ment of  our  chapel.  I  have  found  them  very  ready  to  give  in  most 
cases.  Ten  of  the  subscriptions  were  for  $  100  each.  I  am  not 
yet  done  with  them.  Elsewhere,  that  is,  in  our  neighborhood,  I 
have  got  about  as  much  more.  The  accommodation  of  the  chapel 
is  to  be  doubled,  and  its  appearance  improved,  and  comfort  in- 
creased. 

"Our  examination  passed  off  very  well.  There  was  a  goodly 
attendance  of  the  clergy.  The  alumni  have  been  very  successful 
in  their  efforts  to  endow  the  professorships.  You  know  we  are 
building  a  library,  which  is  to  cost  $8000,  all  contributed  from 
abroad,  $4000  from  one  person  in  Philadelphia.  Our  neighborhood 
is  building  up  quite  fast.  Twenty  years  from  now  it  will  probably 
be  very  thickly  settled. 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  227 

"  Since  I  last  wrote,  there  has  been  a  most  sad  event  among  us. 
Dear  little  Blanche  has  been  taken  from  us.  I  have  not  received 
such  a  wound  for  many  long  years.  The  recurrence  of  the  subject 
is  still  a  dagger  to  my  heart.  We  had  forgotten  she  was  not  of 
our  own  blood.  Ma,  the  girls,  the  boys,  all  loved  her  as  a  child  or 
sister.  And  she  was  a  most  lovely  and  promising  child.  Such  a 
corpse  I  never  beheld.  No  sculptor's  chisel  ever  produced  any- 
thing so  lovely.  The  image  will  haunt  my  brain  as  long  as  I  live. 
The  death  occurred  while  Mrs.  Sparrow  was  away  in  New  York. 
She  got  home  before  the  funeral,  but  that  was  all.  Mr.  Henning, 
also,  was  absent,  and  we  deeply  deplored  it,  though  he  has  since 
said  he  does  not.  Of  course,  the  chief  burden  fell  on  Susan,  and 
nobly  she  bore  it.  0,  she  is  a  heroine,  a  Christian  heroine,  strong, 
collected,  tender,  and  quiet  to  the  last  degree.  I  love  and  admire 
her  more  than  ever.  You  will  forgive  this." 

The  allusion  here  is  to  a  motherless  child  of  the  Missionary  to 
Africa,  Eev.  E.  W.  Henning.  This  little  one,  finding  a  home  in 
the  family  of  Doctor  Sparrow,  had  become  endeared  to  him  as  one 
of  his  own  children;  and  when  taken  by  an  early  death,  her 
departure  was  thought  of  with  feelings  of  peculiar  tenderness. 
One  of  the  students  of  that  date  mentions  the  expression  of  thank- 
fulness to  him  by  the  Doctor  for  some  little  acts  of  attention  in 
connection  with  her  funeral.  It  was  the  first  stroke  of  bereave- 
ment upon  his  household  after  a  long  interval,  and  it  came  in  a 
form  calling  forth  his  tenderest  sympathies. 

"May  12,  1856. 

"  How  unlike  the  common  estimate  of  human  life  which  we  find  in 
the  world !  How  similar  in  spirit  to  that  of  Him  who  came  not  to 
be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister,  and  give  his  life  a  ransom  for 
many — the  humbling  honor  of  living  for  the  same  general  purpose 
with  Christ  Himself." 

"May  29th. 

"  We  returned  on  Monday,  from  the  Fredericksburg  Convention, 
one  of  the  most  delightful  that  I  ever  attended.  Eighty  clergy 
present. 

"  I  thank  you  very  sincerely  for  the  papers  you  sent  me  from 
San  Francisco.  They  disclosed  a  singular  state  of  society.  It  is 


228  MEMOIR    OF 

beautiful  to  see  how  rapidly  such  a  turbid  and  fermenting  liquid 
can  clarify  itself  in  a  Protestant  country.  In  a  Komish  country  it 
could  not.  The  cauldron  has  been  seething  and  bubbling  for  a  long 
time  in  South  America,  but  the  lees  will  not  settle  to  the  bottom. 

"  We  are  in  great  confusion,  at  this  time,  in  Congress,  and  per- 
sonal violence  has  been  offered,  in  two  or  three  cases.  Slavery  the 
cause.  The  Lord,  in  mercy,  save  the  ship  of  state  from  that  rock !" 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  April  23,  1856. 
"My  DEAR  JOHN: — 

"  I  am  sick  with  a  headache,  and  have  been  since  Monday,  but 
I  must  say  a  word  in  answer  to  your  letter  received  that  evening. 
I  had  just  got  home  from  St.  Paul's,  Culpeper,  where  I  spent  the 
Sunday,  when  it  arrived.  It  afforded  us  all  true  pleasure  to  learn 
that  your  prospects  are  fair,  and  your  spirit  hopeful.  The  last  is 
as  important  as  the  first;  even  more  so,  for  it  is  our  duty.  I  trust 
that,  hoping  in  God,  you  will  hope  on,  and  hope  ever.  The  Lord 
has  put  none  of  us  in  vain  into  this  world ;  he  has  something  for 
us  to  do;  let  us  endeavor  to  do  it,  and  be  happy  in  it.  I  like  your 
determination  to  visit  every  family  in  the  parish  or  village.  Done 
in  a  religious  way,  it  cannot  fail  to  result  in  good.  Let  me  warn 
you  against  lengthening  unduly  any  religious  services  you  may 
hold  in  the  village.  It  is  the  rock  on  which  I  have  split.  Where 
the  exercise  is  extemporaneous,  the  danger  is  special.  Were  I  in 
a  parish,  I  should  study  that  point.  I  would  write  prayers  to 
exercise  myself  in  the  language  of  supplication,  and  strive  to  have 
them  pointed,  applicable  and  solemn;  especially  would  I  guard 
against  long  sentences,  and  many  connective  particles.  Separate 
and  brief  petitions  should  abound  in  all  addresses  to  the  throne  of 
Grace.  Long  and  complex  sentences  do  for  addressing  men,  not 
God. 

"St.  George's  Hall  will  not  be  acted  on  till  Convention.  I  must 
stop.  Much  love  to  Mary,  and  a  kiss  and  blessing  for  Willie  and 
Carrie. 

"Your  affectionate  father,  WILLIAM  SPARROW." 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  September  2,  1856. 
"KEV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER: — 

"  In  regard  to  the  argument  in  Butler  I  can  only  say  a  word  or 
two. 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  229 

"  First,  he  argues  on  the  grounds  of  the  Materialist. 

"Secondly,  in  conformity  with  these  views  of  the  Materialist,  he 
makes  a  hypothesis,  i.  e.,  that  the  motion  of  a  particle  of  matter  is 
so  indivisible  that  it  involves  a  contradiction  to  suppose  one  part 
to  exist,  and  another  not;  in  which  case  the  particle  must  be  one. 

"Thirdly,  he  then  assumes  that  the  motion  of  a  particle  of  mat- 
ter is,  to  that  matter,  analogously,  as  consciousness  to  the  living 
being. 

"Fourth,  and  lastly,  assuming  consciousness  to  be  absolutely 
one,  he  thinks  himself  entitled  thence  to  infer  that  the  soul,  or 
living  being,  is  one  also,  and,  like  the  supposed  particle  of  matter, 
indiscerptible. 

"The  infinite  divisibility  of  matter  cannot  be  pleaded,  because 
the  hypothesis  with  which  he  starts  precludes  it;  and  he  makes 
that  hypothesis  to  furnish  an  analogy,  or  parallel  case  of  the  known 
and  admitted  fact  of  the  unity  of  consciousness. 

"  The  argument  seems  to  me  a  fair  and  good  one,  as  a  probable 
argument,  and  to  the  Materialist  very  confounding.  If  he  admits 
the  soul  to  have  bulk,  and  at  the  same  time  that  consciousness  is 
one  and  indiscerptible,  he  must  admit,  in  every  fair  view,  that, 
despite  of  infinite  divisibility,  the  former  is,  somehow  or  other, 
indivisible,  and  therefore  indiscerptible.  If  he  admits  it  has  not 
bulk,  then  he  is  not  consistent;  and,  at  all  events,  there  is  no 
ground,  in  reason,  to  suppose  it  will  ever  be  destroyed;  there  is 
nothing  to  warrant  the  presumption,  for  Nature  knows  of  no 
destruction  but  disintegration. 

"  I  have  tried  to  be  brief,  without  time,  and  you  will  say  of  me, 
'brevis  esse  laborat  obscurus  fit.'  I  have  not  a  copy  of  Duke,  and 
have  not  time  to  look  into  Dr.  Hanna,  if  I  could  find  Dr.  C.'s  view 
in  his  four  volumes. 

"If  you  understand  me,  and  think  me  wrong,  please  let  me 
know.  In  great  haste,  but 

"  Most  truly  yours,  W.  SPARROW. 

"  P.  S.  My  daughter  S.  is  compelled  to  take  a  voyage  across  the 
Atlantic,  for  her  health.  'The  doctor  insists  upon  it.  This,  of 
course,  fills  my  heart  and  head,  just  at  this  moment.  W.  S. 

"Eev.  C.  Walker." 


230  MEMOIR    OF 

"PHILADELPHIA,  October  9,  1856. 
"My  DEAR  J.:— 

"I  cannot  give  you  Convention  news;  the  paper  reports  would 
put  to  shame  my  meagre  statements.  I  may  say,  however,  that  an 
excellent  temper  prevails,  and  that  thus  far  all  things  have  gone 
on  well.  Do  not  be  surprised  if  you  should  receive  liberty  to  read 
Morning  service  alone  in  the  morning,  and  in  the  afternoon  the 
Litany,  or  ante-communion  service ;  and  at  night,  the  Evening  ser~ 
vice;  when  there  is  Communion  in  the  morning,  the  Communion 
service  alone  being  used.  What  emancipation  this  will  be !  What 
relief  .to  feeble  throats !  What  an  impediment  out  of  the  way  of 
effective  ministrations  of  the  Gospel!  The  Bishops  are  less  con-- 
servative,  as  the  phrase  is,  than  the  lower  house. 

"  Ever  your  affectionate  father,         WILLIAM  SPARROW." 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  November  13,  1856. 
"  REV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER  : — 

"  We  are  much  tormented  in  our  chapel  pulpit  for  want  of  a  good 
light,  and  it  has  occurred  to  me  you  might  be  able  and  willing  to 
help  us.  You  may  remember  I  was  struck  with  the  fixture  in  your 
pulpit.  It  seems  to  me  just  what  we  want.  You  have  gas,  and  we 
have  not;  but  I  should  think  that  would  make  no  difference.  The 
contrivance  might  be  arranged  so  as  to  suit  the  use  of  etherial  oil, 
or  even  common  oil,  if  thought  best.  Now  then,  can  we  not  get, 
through  you,  a  similar  fixture  to  yours,  made,  and  forwarded  by 
express  to  this  place?  If  you  can  get  any  liberal  friend  of  the 
Seminary  to  bear  the  expense,  I  will  be  thankful,  but  if  not,  I  will 
pay  the  bill  myself,  as  soon  as  it  is  forwarded.  Some  layman  might 
be  amused  with  the  idea  of  illuminating  '  theologicals,'  and  shed- 
ding light  upon  the  pulpit  of  the  Theological  Seminary  of  Virginia. 
Even  a  High-Churchman  might  think  it  worth  boasting  of.  One 
thing  I  must  make  a  condition,  that  you  do  not  ask  good  Mr.  Dun- 
ham. I  should  feel  ashamed  that  a  favor  should  be  asked  of  one 
to  whom  I  am  already  so  deeply  indebted.  No  one  shall  ever  cast 
up  to  me  the  proverb,  '  Give  an  inch,  ahd  take  an  ell.' 

"  Mr.  Wharton  is  here,  delivering  a  course  of  three  lectures,  on 
the  'Religious  Elements  connected  with  the  Colonization  of  the 
United  States.'  I  have  had  a  letter  from  Paris,  from  Mr.  Morri- 
son. The  travelers  were  improving  in  health. 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,    D.    D.  231 

"  Please  act  as  decisively  as  possible  in  regard  to  the  lamp  busi- 
ness.    For  one  does  not  like  to  dwell  in  darkness. 

"  Affectionately  yours,  WM.  SPARROW. 

"  JRev.  E.  H.  Canfield." 


To  THE  SAME. 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  February  11,  1857. 
"BEV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER: — 

"  You  remember  N.  He  was  a  Seminary  man  of  your  day,  and 
he  is  no  common  man.  I  hardly  know  the  clergyman  in  Virginia 
of  longer  head,  or  sounder  mind.  He  is,  also,  though  not  remark- 
able for  his  manner,  an  earnest,  impressive,  and  instructive 
preacher.  As  a  pastor,  he  is  judicious  and  kind.  As  a  man,  he  is 
genial  and  polite.  Now;  this  your  old  friend  I  want  to  see  in  a 
wider  sphere  than  his  present.  Cannot  you  help  to  find  one  for 
him?  His  people  love  him  dearly,  and  will  be  loth  to  part  with 
him ;  lately,  they  increased  his  salary,  to  prevent  him  from  accept- 
ing a  call.  But  he  is  not  in  his  place.  He  needs  more  room  to 
develop  in,  and  a  better  salary  than  such  a  fold  can  give  him.  I 
ask  again,  cannot  you  help  him  to  such  a  place?  I  am  exceed- 
ingly unwilling  to  see  him  leave  Virginia,  but  I  am  more 
unwilling  that  such  talents  and  traits  of  character  should  not  have 
an  adequate  sphere.  Do  turn  this  matter  over  in  your  mind,  and, 
if  possible,  act. 

"  I  wish  you  could  snatch  a  moment  to  write  me  a  line.  I  know 
your  many  duties,  but  I  know,  also,  your  powers  of  despatch.  If, 
besides  touching  the  above  matter,  you  could  give  me  one  of  your 
old-fashioned  budgets,  with  your  views  of  men  and  things,  it  would, 
of  course,  be  doubly  welcome. 

"There  is  no  news  here — there  never  was,  you  know.  It  all 
comes  from  the  North,  and  there  it  is  pretty  much  frozen  up  at 
this  time.  I  hope  your  health  is  better  than  it  was  the  last  time  I 
heard  of  you.  It  is  natural  that  I  should  be  feeble,  confined  to 
the  house  for  three  weeks,  as  I  have  been  of  late ;  but  your  time 
for  infirmities  has  not  yet  come.  However,  it  is  something  above 
time  which  regulates  that  matter.  May  we  be  submissive  to  the 
regulation,  whatever  it  be. 

"  Your  affectionate  friend  and  brother, 

"WILLIAM  SPARROW." 


232  MEMOIR    OF 

"  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  April  20,  1857. 
"  MY  DEAR  J.:— 

"  In  regard  to  John  xv,  2, 1  would  say  this  much.  The  language 
of  our  Saviour  and  His  Apostles  is  generally  complex,  concrete, 
and  synthetical,  because  it  is  briefer,  simpler,  and  better  adapted 
to  practical  use.  So  here.  We  are  not  told  whether  real  or  pro- 
fessed Christians  are  meant,  and  there  was  no  occasion  for  the 
distinction.  The  object  of  the  Saviour  was  to  intimate  the 
necessity  of  bearing  fruit,  and  that  it  could  be  borne  only  in  con- 
nection with  Him.  I  suppose  He  did  not  mean  to  give  forth  a 
decision  on  the  defectibility  or  indefectibility  of  grace;  and  if  any 
man  attempts  to  connect  such  questions  with  this  text,  it  is  not 
because  they  belong  there,  but  because  he  has  brought  them  there. 
Our  Lord  could  teach  the  two  great  practical  truths  referred  to 
without  touching  these  knotty  points.  As  to  the  most  natural  of 
the  meanings  of  'in  Christ,'  or  'in  me,'  in  this  case,  profession  is 
so,  because  it  is  applicable,  with  equal  ease,  in  both  clauses  you 
quote.  In  this  sense  a  man  may  be  'in  Christ '  whether  he  bear 
fruit  or  not.  This  sense,  therefore,  does  not  do  violence,  in  any 
way,  to  the  passage.  I  have  only  dropped  a  hint  or  two.  Your 
account  of  your  parish  is  cheering.  The  Lord,  in  mercy,  bless 
your  labors.  It  is  a  great  thing  to  be  the  instrument  to  a  fellow- 
creature  of  a  good  which  abides  and  increases  in  value,  just  at  the 
time  when  all  other  good  fades  away  and  vanishes.  Let  me  warn 
you,  however,  against  excessive  exertion.  It  is  not  pious,  any 
more  than  laziness  is.  I  have  been  afraid,  ever  since  I  knew  of 
your  visiting  that  Sunday-school  house,  that  you  might  do  work 
there  which  might  interfere  with  permanent  engagements  else- 
where, subtracting  from  your  study  time,  and  impairing  your  health. 
It  belongs  to  a  good  steward  not  only  to  lend,  but  to  put  out  on 
usury.  He  must  not  throw  away  health,  any  more  than  life,  or  be 
a  suicide,  by  degrees,  any  more  than  at  once.  I  hope  your  neigh- 
bor, in  Carbondale,  will  prove  a  pleasant  one.  If  he  is  a  true 
Moravian,  he  must.  Moravians  are  the  denomination  which  best 
exhibit  the  graces  of  love  and  self-denial.  What  are  the  charac- 
teristics of  the  other  denominations?  Let  the  question  furnish  an 
hour's  talk  to  you  and  M. 

"Have  you  come  across  Stevens'  'History  of  Methodism?'  Bor- 
row and  read  it  if  you  can.  I  have  been  much  refreshed  by  it  this 
week.  It  is  calculated  to  do  great  good  among  '  all  classes  and 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  233 

conditions  of  men '  and  Churches ;  it  brings  before  us  so  distinctly 
the  original  design  of  the  Wesleys  and  Whitefield,  viz.,  not  to  erect 
a  new  Church,  but  to  revive  and  spiritualize  the  old  ones,  eschew- 
ing all  dogmatic  questions,  and  ecclesiastical  questions,  and  all 
other  questions  that  might  call  attention  from  that  one  thing !  0, 
for  the  concentration  of  our  hearts,  and  all  our  powers,  upon  the 
conversion  of  sinners,  and  the  sanctification  of  saints !  Alas,  also, 
how  are  our  minds  distracted  with  the  lust  of  other  things,  and 
how  are  our  energies  exhausted  on  vastly  inferior  objects!  If  the 
Churches,  and  individual  ministers,  would  lay  aside  their  denomi- 
national rivalries  and  controversies,  and  pursue,  simply  and  solely, 
this  one  end,  how  soon  would  the  world  be  subdued  to  Christ,  and 
the  'kingdom  be  established  to  God,  even  the  Father!'  And  ques- 
tions of  abstract  truth,  and  of  ecclesiastical  arrangement,  and  the 
relations  of  Church  and  State,  so  far  from  faring  for  the  worse, 
would,  as  I  believe,  fare  infinitely  better,  being  left  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Word  in  its  simplest  meaning,  and  its  leading  principles 
to  the  instinctive  impulses  of  the  renewed  and  highly  sanctified 
heart.  But  enough  of  this. 

"Bishop  Meade  is  here,  lecturing,  and  seems  in  tolerable  health. 
I  think,  however,  that  he  declines  in  vigor.  He  is  hard  at  work 
bringing  out  his  '  Old  Churches,  Families,  and  Ministers  of  Virginia.' 
He  says  he  sets  them  in  the  order  of  their  work !  the  ministers 
last !  The  work  will  be  in  two  volumes. 

"  Give  my  tenderest  love  to  M.  and  the  children.  Be  assured  of 
our  continual  prayers  for  you  all,  and  let  us  not  fail  to  be  remem- 
bered by  you.  Separated  in  body,  we  may  meet  there,  and  be  com- 
forted, and  edified,  and  strengthened  there.  Mrs.  S.  desires  me  to 
say  to  M.,  that  the  letter  sent  was  just  the  kind  she  likes  to  receive. 
"  Yours,  ever  affectionately,  WM.  SPARROW." 

"  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  December  23,  1857. 
"  DEAR  BROTHER  SYLE  : — 

"  I  cannot  tell  you  how  much  pleasure  your  letter,  received  a 
few  weeks  ago,  afforded  me  and  my  family.  It  '  carried  me  back/ 
not  to  'Old  Virginia,'  but  to  old  times,  and  revived  many  pleasant 
recollections.  We  rejoice  that  the  vine  branches  are  so  thriving 
about  you,  and  that  those  who  have  the  charge  of  them  are  doing 
so  well,  though  troubled  that  they  cannot  do  better.  It  must, 
indeed,  be  a  trial  to  an  active,  spirited  man,  to  find  that  he  can  do 


234  MEMOIR    OF 

• 

BO  little  of  what  needs  to  be  done.  But  there  are  many  apologues 
to  comfort  us,  among  the  rest  that  of  the  mouse  and  the  netted 
lion.  Missionaries,  who  lay  the  foundations  of  the  Gospel,  can 
seldom  or  never  appear  to  do  much,  but,  in  reality,  they  do  most, 
as  the  unerring  judgments  of  another  world  will  show.  We  may 
apply  to  them  the  maxim,  'dimidium  facti,  qui  ccepit  habet.' 
Your  statements  about  the  new  recruits  surprised  me.  But  I  sus- 
pect you  must  have  bound  them  too  much  to  the  letter.  The 
spirit,  the  substance  of  the  doctrine  of  human  depravity,  I  am 
persuaded  they  hold.  Their  character  as  Missionaries  is  almost 
proof  of  that.  I  have  never  heard  of  but  one  man  (a  Unitarian) 
that  ever  went  to  the  heathen  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  them  who 
denied  it,  and  he  quickly  repented  of  his  enterprise.  I  am  rather 
surprised,  also,  at  their  seclusive  and  monastic  habits.  I  cannot 
but  hope  that  when  the  work  of  the  ship-house  is  done,  and  the 
launch  takes  place,  they  will  prove  themselves  good  sailors, 
Heaven  granting  propitious  gales.  You  Missionaries  in  China  are, 
indeed,  in  prominent  positions.  The  East  generally  seems  to  be 
the  part  of  the  world  to  which  the  thoughts  of  the  thoughtful  are 
directed.  Europe  may  well  forget  herself  in  the  distraction  of  her 
attention  both  East  and  West.  She  is  like  Issachar,  '  the  strong 
ass  crouching  down  between  two  burdens.1  I  have  been  deeply 
engrossed  with  the  Indian  insurrection.  It  haunted  me  for  several 
weeks.  I  trust  now  that  great  good  will  grow  out  of  it,  though 
purchased  at  a  fearful  cost.  As  to  your  field,  with  its  teeming 
population,  for  it,  as  for  India,  it  seems  evident  that  great  things 
are  in  store  and  at  hand.  The  time  was  when  I  felt  bound  to  wait, 
and  have  long  patience;  but  now  we  seem  to  be  authorized  to 
believe  that  Providence  means  to  move  more  expeditiously  than  of 
old.  If  not,  why  so  many  new  agencies,  and  why  such  a  general 
making  up  of  mind,  and  breaking  up  of  organizations  ?  The  signs 
of  the  times,  in  themselves  considered,  and  the  language  of 
prophecy,  alike  call  upon  us  to  look  up  with  expectation.  Not,  as  one 
says,  that  with  Isaiah,  David,  and  St.  John  before  me,  I  would  write 
the  newspapers  ten  years  in  advance.  But  while  I  disclaim  all 
thought  of  particular  modes,  I  feel  confident  about  the  general  result. 
And  I  do  not  confine  my  view  to  Asia;  every  Continent  is  implicated. 
Among  ourselves,  great  and  good  things,  I  trust,  are  in  speedy 
preparation.  Also  in  Europe.  California  is  not  out  of  the  pale  of 
my  cheerful  anticipation.  The  condition  there  is  bad  enough;  New 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  235 

• 

Orleans  was  once  as  bad,  or  nearly  so,  but  it  is  improving  every 
year." 

To  A  YOUNG  FEIEND  IN  EXTREME  SICKNESS. 

"KicHMOND,  July  19,  1858. 
"My  DEAR  WILLIE: — 

"  Ever  since  I  parted  with  you  on  Friday,  you  have  been  much 
upon  my  mind.  I  was  reluctant  to  leave  home  while  you  were  in 
such  feeble  health ;  and  I  have  ever  since  felt  apprehensive  that  in 
my  last  interview  I  did  not  use  that  faithful  explicitness,  in  regard 
to  my  view  of  your  case,  which  was  needed.  One  so  young  as  you, 
and  who  suffers  more  from  weakness  than  from  positive  pain,  finds 
it  hard  to  realize  his  situation,  no  matter  how  critical  it  may  be. 
Being  anxious  to  repair  any  neglect  I  may  have  been  guilty  of,  and 
to  apprise  you  fully  of  the  general  opinion  in  regard  to  your  case, 
I  write  you  these  few  lines  by  the  way. 

"  My  dear  Willie,  let  me  tell  you  plainly,  that  your  condition,  in 
the  opinion  of  all  your  friends,  professional  and  unprofessional,  is 
such  that  you  ought,  without  a  moment's  delay,  address  yourself 
to  the  work  of  preparing  to  meet  the  will  of  Providence,  whatever 
it  may  be.  The  Lord  gave,  why  should  not  the  Lord  take  away  ? 
He  causes  many  to  die  in  the  cradle ;  why  should  he  not  call  away 
others  in  early  manhood?  His  is  the  right,  and  His  is  the  power. 
Shall  He  not  do  what  He  will  with  His  own  ?  It  is  plain  that 
there  is  no  peace,  and  no  security  for  man,  but  in  resigning  himself 
into  the  hands  of  God;  but  how  can  that  be  done?  God  is  holy, 
and  we  are  sinful ;  God  is  good,  and  we  have  been  ungrateful ;  God 
has  been  forbearing,  and  we  have  been  presumptuous;  under  such 
circumstances,  how  can  we  appear  before  Him  in  peace  ?  0,  how 
guilty  we  are,  after  years  of  transgression  and  sin  !  How  polluted 
in  our  nature,  in  our  hearts,  and  our  lives,  after  living  estranged 
from  Him  so  long!  How  can  such  creatures  as  we  ever  escape 
His  wrath,  or  learn  to  love  His  holy  presence?  Dear  Willie,  I 
know  but  one  way :  God  Himself  declares  there  is  but  one  way. 
That  way  is  Christ  crucified.  Christ  came  by  His  atoning  blood 
to  reconcile  God  to  us,  and  by  His  Spirit  to  reconcile  us  to  God. 
Let  me  beseech  you,  then,  in  this  your  hour  of  greatest  need,  to 
lay  hold  of  this  provision  of  mercy,  found  in  the  Gospel  of  Christ, 
and  nowhere  else.  Stir  up  your  heart  to  believe  that,  as  you  are 
going  into  God's  presence,  so  there  is  no  way  of  access  to  Him 


236  MEMOIR    OF 

t 

which  will  not  fill  the  soul  with  dismay,  but  the  Gospel.  Call  on 
God  to  help  you  to  realize  that  you  are  fast  fading  away ;  that  you 
must  soon  appear  before  Him;  that  He  is  a  holy  God  and  just,  a 
merciful  God  and  truthful,  and  that  His  grace  flows  to  us  through 
but  one  channel :  that  blessed  Saviour  who  died  upon  the  cross  for 
our  sins.  In  Him  is  pardon  for  the  guilty,  and  sanctification  for 
the  polluted.  0,  look  to  Him,  call  mightily  on  Him,  cling  to  Him. 
He  can  save  unto  the  uttermost.  The  chief  of  sinners  is  not  beyond 
the  compass  of  His  mercy.  Though  our  sins  be  as  scarlet,  they 
may  be  made  white  as  snow.  In  conclusion,  let  me  beseech  you 
not  to  let  the  hope  of  a  prolonged  life  prevent  your  .immediate,  and 
earnest,  and  persevering  attention  to  this  one  thing.  It  is  your 
salvation,  your  all!  Dear  Willie,  your  case  is  hopeless  for  this 
world,  but  Christ  is  more  than  sufficient  for  you.  Farewell;  the 
Lord  in  mercy  keep  you,  through  Jesus  Christ. 

"  Your  true  friend,  W.  SPARROW." 


"  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  November  7,  1859. 
"Mr  DEAR  J.:— 

"I  went  to  the  General  Convention,  and  enjoyed  it  as  long  as 
health  permitted.  But  I  lost  the  last  week  from  sickness,  and  all 
the  session  I  was  suffering  from  neuralgia  in  my  face.  I  think  the 
spirit  of  the  Convention  was,  on  the  whole,  an  improved  edition  of 
what  we  have  previously  had;  owing,  I  doubt  not,  to  the  religious 
interest  which  pervades  the  country.  Last  Thursday  night  I 
returned  to  address  the  students  upon  the  subject,  and,  a  strange 
thing  for  me,  talked  for  an  hour !  I  was  always,  as  you  know, 
prolix  on  paper;  there  is,  you  see,  danger  now  of  garrulity.  So  do 
extremes  meet  in  the  same  person ! 

"  I  have  not  written  you  since  my  call  to  Baltimore.  But  that 
topic  is  worn  out.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  while  it  cost  me  a  painful 
struggle  for  a  fortnight,  I  am  well  content  with  my  decision.  My 
brother  Edward  was  very  anxious  for  me  to  go ;  but  my  brother 
Thomas  was  opposed.  The  only  thing  that  prevented  was  the  fear 
that  I  should  have  to  reproach  myself  for  leaving  a  manifest  post 
of  duty  for  an  uncertain  one. 

"On  my  return  from  Convention  I  spent  a  Sunday  with  the 
boys  at  the  University.  I  preached  in  the  morning  in  Charlottes- 
ville,  and  at  night  at  the  University,  which  is  a  mile  from  Char- 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  237 

lottesville,  where  I  had  a  Congregation  of  five  hundred  young  men. 
The  three  boys  are  well,  and  doing,  I  trust,  fairly.  I  wish  you 
would  write  them  occasionally.  I  believe  family  feeling  and  affec- 
tion to  be  a  great  aid  to  everything  that  is  good  in  youth,  and  a 
great  preservative  against  evil.  You  have  heard  of  our  prosperity 
here  in  brick  and  mortar,  and  also  in  students.  Things  are,  exter- 
nally, looking  up;  the  Lord  grant  that  things  spiritual  may  keep 
pace  with  them. 

"  I  am  glad  to  hear  that  your  congregations  grow.  I  wish  I 
could  pay  you  a  visit.  I  am  engaged  to  go  to  Wilmington  next 
month,  to  preach  an  ordination  sermon,  and  should  like  to  extend 
my  trip  to  P.  The  only  objection  is  that  the  time  would  be  so 
short,  it  would  not  be  worth  while,  or,  as  it  is  expressed  in  Latin, 
'  operse  pretium.'  However,  if  the  Lord  will,  I  shall  make  you  a 
long  visit  next  summer.  When  is  the  next  Association  ? 

"  My  dear  J.,  I  feel  the  time  is  short.  The  night  is,  indeed,  far 
spent,  and  the  day  is  at  hand.  0,  let  us  be  ready  for  the  dawn ! 
To  this  end  let  us  labor,  and  watch,  and  pray,  and  let  much  of  our 
own  prayer  be  intercession  for  one  another,  that  we  may  live  use- 
fully, and  die  in  peace.  With  tenderest  love  to  M.  and  the  child- 
ren, 

"Ever  affectionately  yours,  W.  SPARROW." 

It  was  not  very  long  before  the  date  of  the  last  of  these  letters, 
that  the  Doctor  was  called  on  to  pass  through  one  of  his  severest 
trials  of  natural  feeling,  that  of  separation,  with  little  hope  of 
reunion,  from  his  third  daughter,  for  the  missionary  work  in  China. 
Her  marriage  took  place  in  June,  1859,  and  in  the  course  of  the 
summer  she  set  sail  with  her  husband  for  her  chosen  field  of  duty. 
"This,"  said  he,  speaking  of  her  going,  "this  was  the  hardest 
wrench  yet."  And  yet,  when  the  question  of  parting  had  become 
a  settled  one,  his  whole  behavior,  although,  evidently,  it  was  a 
great  trial,  was  as  cheerful  and  buoyant  as  though  he  was  receiving, 
not  giving  away  a  daughter.  He  afterwards  said  in  a  letter, 
"  When  I  parted  from  her  I  feared  it  was  for  life ;  and  it  came  to 
pass." 

What  his  feelings  and  convictions  were,  under  the  circumstances, 
are  beautifully  exhibited  in  an  extract  from  his  sermon  delivered 
at  St.  George's,  New  York,  a  few  weeks  after  his  daughter's  mar- 
riage, on  the  occasion  of  the  ordination  to  Deacons'  orders  of  her 


238  MEMOIR    OF 

husband,  and  only  a  few  days  before  their  departure  for  China. 
"Have  we  children?  I  will  not  say  we  shall  not  withhold  them; 
that  would  be  a  tame  expression,  indeed.  How  could  a  Christian 
parent  assume  such  a -perilous  responsibility?  We  will  rather,  I 
should  say,  offer  them  freely,  desiring  only  that  the  Lord  would  fit 
them  for  the  work,  and  bless  them  in  it.  Patriotism  has  often 
made  fathers  and  mothers,  with  their  own  hands,  gird  armor  on 
their  sons  to  go  and  do  battle  in  their  country's  cause.  Shall  not 
the  love  of  Christ,  the  love  of  souls,  the  love  of  truth,  holiness,  and 
heaven  constrain  Christian  parents  to  do  as  much  with  their  child- 
ren, offering  them  willingly,  and  rejoicing  that  they  themselves 
should  be  so  connected,  through  their  sons  and  daughters,  with  the 
cause  of  humanity,  and  the  interests  of  that  kingdom  which  shall 
have  no  end  ?  Yes,  I  will  hope  and  believe  that,  through  the  good 
Spirit  of  God  moving  in  our  hearts,  such  will  be  the  effect  of  this 
day's  doing  in  our  future  homes.  When  we  return  from  the  ship 
in  which  they  sail  to  expatriate  themselves  for  seven  long  years, 
unless  some  afflictive  providence  should  shorten  their  term  of  exile, 
be  our  part,  the  Lord  being  our  helper,  to  help  them  in  our  prayers, 
and  to  keep  back  nothing  of  those  things  by  which  this  sacred  and 
loving  enterprise  will  be  advanced." 

This  was  not  the  language  of  stoicism,  knowing  nothing  by  per- 
sonal experience  of  the  nature  of  the  sacrifice  to  which  it  made 
allusion.  It  was  that  of  deep,  loving,  and  painful  appreciation  of 
all  that  such  sacrifice  involved  to  natural  affection,  and  yet  freely 
making  it,  gratefully  recognizing  the  privilege  and  honor  of  being 
allowed  so  to  do.  A  brief  note,  very  soon  after,  in  reference  to 
certain  changes  proposed  in  the  Seminary  course,  has  its  connec- 
tion with  what  has  been  mentioned. 

"  REV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER  : — 

"  Your  letter  would  have  been  answered  before,  but  that  I  re- 
turned from  New  York,  last  Monday  week,  to  take  to  my  bed.  The 
excitement  connected  with  the  departure  of  the  Missionaries,  fol- 
lowing so  closely  upon  commencement  and  other  events,  was  too 
much  for  me.  Besides,  I  have  been  troubled  with  a  local  affection 
which  has  cost  me  much  pain.  This  or  yesterday  was  the  first 
moment  I  could  possibly  have  replied  to  you. 

"First,  let  me  say,  I  am  ready  for  anything,  within  the  limits  of 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  239 

my  strength,  which  the  Trustees  may  think  proper  to  determine. 
And  when  I  cannot  bear  my  burden,  I  shall  quickly  say  No,  and 
there  leave  it.  I  am  too  old,  and  have  learned  too  much  of  myself 
and  of  the  world,  to  pursue  any  other  course. 

"  In  the  next  place,  let  me  say,  I  am  not  disposed  to  be  very 
active  in  any  changes.  I  prefer  to  be  passive.  The  time  was  when 
it  was  otherwise.  There  are  a  great  many  points  in  which  I 
believe  important  suggestions  might  be  made,  but  I  must  wait  till 
I  see  you.  If  able,  I  am  bound  to  preach  next  Sunday  in  Balti- 
more. After  my  return  from  there,  or  in  the  week  following,  I 
may  make  you  a  visit.  An  hour's  talk  will  be  worth  four  hours' 
writing.  Please  let  me  know  when  the  committee  will  •  meet,  that 

I  may  arrange  accordingly.     With  kindest  regards  to  Mrs. , 

I  am  truly, 

"  Your  friend  and  brother,  WILLIAM  SPARROW. 

".Rev.  C.  Walker." 

The  results  of  the  meeting  thus  alluded  to  were  not  at  all 
agreeable  to  Dr.  Sparrow,  and  when,  within  the  next  few  months, 
he  was  invited  to  the  rectorship  of  Emanuel  Church,  Baltimore,  it 
was  feared,  by  some  of  his  friends  and  pupils,  that  he  would  be 
lost  to  the  Seminary.  Had  mere  natural  feeling  been  allowed  to 
control  his  movements,  he  would  undoubtedly  have  gone.  But 
earnest  persuasions,  from  different  sources,  were  addressed  to  him  not 
to  make  the  proposed  change.  And  these,  with  his  own  careful  delib- 
eration as  to  his  course  of  duty,  and  what  seemed  his  most  effective 
work  in  the  Church,  caused  him  to  decline  the  invitation.  This  was 
the  last  effort  made  to  induce  him  to  leave  the  Seminary  during 
this  period.  What  might  have  been  the  result  of  his  acceptance 
of  any  of  these  invitations,  especially  those  to  assume  the  pastorate, 
can,  of  course,  be  only  a  matter  of  conjecture.  The  judgment  of 
some  of  his  friends  and  brethren  at  the  time,  that  this  result 
would  not  have  been  favorable  or  successful,  that  any  such  move- 
ment would  undoubtedly  have  been  a  great  mistake,  tested  in  the 
light  of  his  missionary  work,  and  reputation  as  a  preacher  in  Ohio, 
was,  to  say  the  least,  rather  premature.  The  greatest  of  all  quali- 
fications for  the  pastorate,  practical  judgment,  sympathetic  earnest- 
ness, faithfulness  in  reproof,  etc.,  he  pre-eminently  possessed.  The 
greatest  difficulty  would  have  been  in  his  sermons.  But  the  same 
capacity  which  adapted  those  sermons  to  the  peculiar  material  to 


240  MEMOIR    OF 

which  they  were  addressed,  might  have  been  quite  as  successfully 
exerted  in  endeavoring  to  meet  the  wants  of  other  and  different 
material.  The  writer  has  no  hesitation  in  the  expression  of  the 
conviction  that,  had  Dr.  Sparrow's  life  been  given  to  the  pastoral, 
rather  than  the  professorial  work,  his  peculiar  gift  of  teaching 
from  the  pulpit,  and  from  house  to  house,  would  have  rendered 
him  as  successful  in  one  of  these  spheres  as  he  undoubtedly  was  in 
the  other.  The  expediency  of  turning  from  one  of  these  spheres 
of  labor  to  the  other,  or  the  prospect  of  so  doing  successfully,  after 
a  man  has  passed  middle  life,  is  another  and  very  different  question. 
For  the  sake  of  the  Seminary,  and  his  pupils,  during  the  next 
fifteen  years,  we  may  well  rejoice  that  the  experiment  was  not 
made,  and  that  he  continued  in  his  old  position. 

The  only  item  of  interest  for  the  closing  year  of  this  period,  1860, 
the  writer  finds  in  a  couple  of  notations  of  his  own ;  one  as  to  the 
Diocesan  Convention,  and  the  other  as  to  a  later  date :  "  Heard  Dr. 
Sparrow,  on  Sunday  morning,  preach  a  sermon  in  regard  to  the 
reign  of  the  Saints  on  earth,  and  enjoyed  it  very  much."  "Was 
out  at  the  Seminary,  November  30th,  at  the  Thanksgiving  services, 
spending  the  day  with  Dr.  Sparrow,  and  hearing  him  preach  a  ser- 
mon for  the  occasion."  Both  of  these  sermons,  in  their  general 
subject,  as  in  the  specific  material,  stood  in  sad  contrast  with  the 
experiences  of  trial  and  trouble  so  near  at  hand  to  himself  and 
hearers. 

The  last  one  of  these  sermons,  while  it  looked  back,  had  doubt- 
less, also,  its  forward  glance;  for  the  elements  of  coming  trouble 
were  beginning  to  make  themselves  manifest.  In  the  meantime, 
however,  everything  seemed  to  be  going  in  its  usual  course  at  the 
Seminary.  The  number  of  students  was  seventy;  was  as  large, 
if  not  larger,  than  at  any  former  period.  And  while  the  excited 
feelings  outside,  doubtless,  had  their  influence  with  its  members 
from  different  sections,  it  did  not  interfere  with  regular  perform- 
ances of  duty.  Northern  and  Southern  students,  while  disputing, 
at  times,  in  reference  to  the  great  questions  at  issue,  were  still 
co-operative  in  their  studies,  and  in  their  practical  Christian  efforts 
for  the  welfare  of  the  neighborhood.  It  was  only  as  the  prospect 
of  actual  military  movements  became  probable,  that  any  serious 
interference  with  Seminary  work  was  experienced.  The  definite 
form  in  which  disorganization  began,  and  the  evils  to  come  were 
foreshadowed,  was  in  that  of  the  departure  of  the  Northern  stu- 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  241 

dents,  early  in  the  Spring  of  1861.  This,  it  is  gratifying  to  record, 
took  place  in  a  spirit,  on  both  sides,  of  regret  and  brotherly  affec- 
tion. It  was  a  sad  day  to  all ;  to  one  side,  to  feel  that  it  seemed 
necessary  to  leave  the  sacred  studies  and  associations  in  which  they 
were  occupied ;  to  the  other,  to  feel  that  such  departure  could  not 
be  avoided.  Peculiarly  was  this  a  day  of  sadness  to  Dr.  Sparrow, 
and  recognized  as  an  omen  of  others  still  more  sad  in  the  future. 
The  earliest  impressions  of  his  childhood  were  connected  with  the 
evils  of  civil  war.  His  father's  house,  during  the  rebellion  in  Ire- 
land, was,  at  one  time,  occupied  by  the  rebels,  and  subsequently  by 
the  royal  troops.  The  enforced  removal  of  the  family  took  place 
while  his  mother  was  suffering  from  sickness,  and  the  refugeeism 
which  followed,  and  still  later  the  exile  to  this  country  after  the 
contest  terminated,  all  these  things  together,  as  family  traditions, 
impressed  upon  his  mind  in  childhood,  produced  an  effect  which  went 
with  him  through  all  his  after-life.  These  facts  of  early  impression 
were  mentioned  by  him  in  conversation,  about  the  time  of  which 
we  are  speaking;  and  they  help  to  explain  the  clearness  of  antici- 
pation with  which  he  foresaw  and  described  what  so  many,  in  a 
little  time,  knew  by  experience.  This  horror  of  what  was  coming 
seemed  almost  to  absorb  every  other  feeling.  In  addition,  more- 
over, to  these  general  anticipations  of  evil  to  the  whole  country, 
from  a  state  of  warfare,  was  there  a  clear  perception  of  the  imme- 
diate prospect  of  it  in  the  locality  of  the  Seminary,  within  a  few 
miles  of  the  Federal  metropolis.  "If,"  said  he  on  one  occasion,  "if 
Washington  were  up  in  the  mountains  of  Pennsylvania.  But  for 
us  now  there  is  no  escape."  He  thus  clearly  foresaw  that  the  work 
of  the  Seminary,  the  work  of  his  life,  could  not  continue  to  go  on 
in  that  locality,  if,  indeed,  anywhere.  And  this  retirement  of  the 
Northern  students  became  a  sad  premonition  of  what  must  soon 
follow. 

For  some  weeks  longer  the  exercises  of  the  Seminary  went  on. 
The  work,  moreover,  of  completing  the  new  buildings,  a  part  of 
Meade  Hall,  went  on  very  nearly  to  the  close,  to  be  resumed  and 
finished  years  after,  when  the  impending  conflict  had  ended.  It 
had  become  manifest,  however,  by  the  first  of  May,  that  it  would 
be  impossible  to  go  on.  The  funds  of  the  Institution  upon  which 
its  support  depended  were  invested  in  Virginia;  and  if  it  went  on 
at  all,  it  must  be  where  material  in  the  shape  of  students  and 
funds  for  support  were  to  be  found.  The  locality,  also,  of  the 
16 


242  MEMOIR    OP 

Seminary,  apart  from  these  considerations,  was  just  in  the  track  of 
military  movements,  and  no  place  for  academic  or  theological 
study.  Such  movements  were  anticipated  daily;  and  yielding  to 
what  seemed  inevitable,  it  was  decided  to  close  the  exercises.  Very 
sad  was  the  occasion,  and,  as  an  item  in  the  history  of  the  Institu- 
tion, it  has  its  peculiar  interest.  The  exercises  closed  on  the  seventh 
of  May,  with  the  examination  of  two  of  the  members  of  the  senior 
class,  and  their  ordination  on  the  same  day,  in  the  chapel.  The 
congregation  was  made  up  of  the  professors  and  remaining  stu- 
dents, and  a  couple  of  clergymen  from  Alexandria.  No  sermon 
was  preached.  And  before  the  afternoon  was  over  the  process  of 
dispersion  had  begun.  As  it  was  doubtful  whether  any  reorgani- 
zation during  hostilities  would  be  possible,  Dr.  May,  whose  connec- 
tions were  north  of  the  Potomac,  returned  to  Philadelphia;  the 
death  of  Mrs.  May  had  taken  place  only  a  few  months  before.  Dr. 
Packard  and  his  family  moved  into  the  interior  of  Virginia,  as  did, 
also,  the  family  of  Dr.  Sparrow.  The  Doctor  himself,  and  seven 
or  eight  students,  remained  at  the  Seminary.  And,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  an  absence  of  part  of  a  week  in  Richmond,  at  the  Diocesan 
Convention,  he  remained  at  the  Seminary  until  military  move- 
ments actually  began  with  the  occupation  of  Alexandria  by  the 
Federal  forces.  This  event  closed  communications  with  the  inte- 
rior; and  to  avoid  separation  from  his  family  he  rejoined  them  a 
few  days  afterward.  It  would  seem  that  he  left  the  Seminary  with 
the  hope  of  being  able  to  return.  But  this  was  soon  recognized 
as  impracticable. 

These  closing  days,  between  the  seventh  of  May  and  the  mili- 
tary movements  some  three  weeks  later,  constituted  a  very  peculiar 
chapter  in  Dr.  Sparrow's  experience.  He  spoke  of  it  afterward,  as 
a  period,  perhaps,  the  most  trying  to  him  of  any  through  which, 
during  the  war,  he  was  called  to  pass.  The  strangeness  of  all  the 
surroundings,  the  absence  of  his  household,  the  stoppage  in  mid- 
session  of  all  exercises,  the  empty  buildings,  the  disturbed  and 
anxious  condition  of  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact,  the  certainty 
of  evils  coming,  and  the  uncertainty  as  to  their  degrees  and  forms, 
the  rumors  of  movements,  and  sometimes,  in  the  boom  of  distant 
artillery,  the  actual  hearing  of  them — all  these  seem  to  have  had 
their  full  influence  upon  his  feelings  and  imagination.  And  this 
influence,  however  realized  during  the  day,  when  there  was  some 
relief  in  communication  with  the  students  and  neighbors  remaining, 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  243 

was  still  more  oppressive  when  daylight  closed,  at  night,  in  the 
silence  of  his  lonely  dwelling,  unoccupied  except  by  himself. 

Two  letters  to  Rev.  Mr.  Syle  properly  come  in  at  this  point. 
The  one  is  an  extract  written  the  year  before,  on  reception  of  intel- 
ligence of  the  death  of  Mrs.  Syle,  and  the  other,  during  this  stay  of 
Dr.  Sparrow  at  the  Seminary,  after  the  departure  of  the  students, 
in  May,  1861.  It  was  from  a  real  sympathy  with  sorrow  in  the 
one  instance,  and  a  heavy  experience  of  trouble  in  the  other,  that 
he  thus  gave  expression  to  his  feelings. 

"April  17,  1860. 

"  We  both  have  run  through  the  greater  part  of  life,  and  I  trust 
understand  something  of  its  nature  and  design,  and  are  enabled 
through  grace  to  interpret  rightly  the  details  of  life  in  its  trials 
and  triumphs,  its  losses  and  crosses,  its  joys  and  sorrows,  its  tempt- 
ations and  escapes.  Dear  brother,  how  imperfectly  do  those 
understand  the  philosophy  of  life  who  have  not  learned  it  at  the 
feet  of  Jesus ;  and  to  those  who  have,  how  vain  and  unsatisfactory 
it  is,  aside  from  the  end  thereof,  which  is  everlasting  life.  This 
truth  has  been,  of  late,  very  much  pressed  upon  my  own  heart.  I 
feel  eternity  to  be  very  near,  so  that  I  can  see,  whether  I  do  it  or 
not,  that  I  ought  to  count  all  things  but  loss  for  the  excellency  of 
the  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus  my  Lord,  through  whom  alone  I 
can  be  prepared  to  meet  it  joyously.  While  I  pray  the  Lord  to 
comfort  you,  therefore,  let  me  ask,  my  dear  brother,  your  prayers 
for  me,  that  I  may  be  ever  ready  for  any  affliction,  especially  the 
last.". 

"  TUESDAY,  May  14,  1861. 
"  REV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER  : — 

"  I  am  all  alone  in  my  house,  having  sent  off  my  family  to  Staun- 
ton  ten  days  ago.  I  go  to  our  Convention  to-morrow,  in  Richmond, 
and  return  on  Monday,  to  take  charge  of  the  premises,  as  I  have 
been  doing  since  the  Seminary  was  prematurely  closed. 

"  I  had  a  letter  last  night  from  Susan.  It  seems  that  unless  help 
is  sent  to  them  immediately,  they  will  have  to  come  home.  The 
thought  seems  almost  death  to  her  and  her  husband.  To  be  driven 
home  for  want  of  a  bare  support,  just  when  ready  to  be  useful,  is 
dreadful  to  them.  Cannot  something  be  done  ?  She  says  they  are 
going  to  sell  all  that  they  have,  and  keep  along  till  it  is  made  evi- 
dent that  the  Church  will  not  sustain  them.  If  I  had  the  means, 


244  MEMOIR    OP 

how  happy  should  I  be  to  sustain  them  myself  in  a  work  so  good 
in  itself,  and  so  near  their  hearts.  Cannot  some  good,  generous 
person — lady,  if  you  please — be  found  to  furnish  them  a  few  hun- 
dred dollars,  to  live  along  there  till  better  times.  Had  Sue's  true 
spirit  been  known  among  the  rich  ladies  of  our  communion,  as  it 
is  known  to  you  and  me,  I  think  there  would  not  be  any  doubt  of 
her  finding  prompt  relief. 

"But  why  do  I  write?  All  is  known  to  you;  and,  doubtless, 
you  have  been  contriving  some  relief.  The  mail  that  brought  the 
letters  to  me  brought  them  to  you,  also,  and  all  concerned  in  the 
cause  in  New  York.  I  leave  the  matter  in  God's  hands.  S.  says 
that  the  first  announcement  that  they  would  soon  have  to  leave  was  a 
most  astounding  and  stunning  blow  to  her  and  D.  But  they  soon 
felt  more  calm,  and  were  able  to  leave  the  matter  at  the  Divine  dis- 
posal, determined  to  trust  though  He  should  slay  them ;  for  next  to 
slaying  would  a  return  be  before  they  had  gathered  in  any  harvest. 

"I  have  no  heart  to  speak  about  things  here.  I  feel  really 
broken-hearted.  Is  there  on  record  the  case  of  a  nation  holding  to 
its  lips  a  cup  so  fall  of  blessing,  and  so  wantonly  and  wickedly  dash- 
ing it  to  the  ground  ?  My  own  individual  trials  in  this  matter  are 
most  peculiar  and  painful ;  but  oh,  my  country,  it  is  for  thee  I  feel ! 

"  Let  me  hear  from  you  at  your  leisure,  and  believe  me  ever  your 
friend  and  brother,  W.  SPARROW." 

Dr.  Sparrow  rejoined  his  family  about  the  first  of  June.  A  few 
lines  will  terminate  the  narrative  in  regard  to  the  little  community 
which  he  left  behind,  and  of  the  Seminary  until  it  came  into  mili- 
tary occupation.  Six  or  seven  students,  most  of  them  from  locali- 
ties not  very  remote,  were  placed  in  occupation  and  charge  of  the 
buildings,  to  save  them  and  the  property  in  them,  as  far  as  possible, 
from  depredation  and  destruction. 

Within  a  few  weeks  following  the  occupation  of  Alexandria, 
squads,  sometimes  of  stragglers  from  the  army,  sometimes  of 
vicious  persons  from  the  neighborhood,  began  to  make  depredations 
upon  unprotected  property.  Particularly  was  this  the  case  with 
unoccupied  houses.  One  of  the  outer  buildings  of  the  Seminary 
had  been  broken  open  during  the  night,  and  a  request  was  made  to 
the  officer  commanding  in  the  neighborhood  to  furnish  a  guard  for 
the  protection  of  the  property  and  its  inmates.  The  writer,  as  an 
eye  witness,  can  describe  the  close. 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,  D.  D.  245 

I  went  out  with  Mr.  Lee  to  the  Seminary,  to  meet  the  guard 
that  Col.  Heintzelman  had  promised  for  its  protection.  It  was  a 
bright  afternoon  in  June,  and  everything  was  looking  very  fresh 
and  beautiful.  But  for  the  closed  houses  of  the  professors,  it  might 
have  been  taken  for  the  time  of  vacation.  We  found  the  six  or 
seven  students  in  possession,  apparently  anxious  in  regard  to  the 
protection  which  had  been  requested,  and  we  endeavored  to  reassure 
them.  In  less  than  twenty  minutes  the  guard  made  its  appear- 
ance, too  large,  as  I  thought,  for  the  purpose — some  twenty  or 
twenty-five  men,  under  the  command  of  a  lieutenant.  We  received 
them  at  the  front  door,  and,  after  a  few  words,  they  marched  into 
the  prayer  hall  and  stacked  their  muskets.  I  mentioned  to  the 
lieutenant  that  this  was  the  place  of  prayer  for  the  students,  morn- 
ing and  evening,  and  that  arrangements  would  be  made  for  the 
accommodation  of  his  command  in  other  parts  of  the  building, 
and  we  soon  took  our  departure.  We  had  hardly  got  back  to 
Mr.  Lee's  house  before  we  received  a  message  from  the  students 
that  a  line  of  sentinels  had  been  drawn  around  the  buildings,  and 
that  no  one  was  allowed  to  pass  through  it.  On  our  return  to  re- 
monstrate, we  found  that  Dr.  May's  and  Dr.  Sparrow's  residences 
had  been  broken  open,  so  as  to  be  searched,  that  the  rooms  of  the 
Seminary  not  already  opened  had  been  subjected  to  the  same  ope- 
ration, and  that  the  guard,  which  had  been  asked  for  protection, 
had  actually  taken  possession.  The  inmates,  of  course,  got  away 
as  soon  as  they  could ;  and  within  the  next  four  months  the  build- 
ings were  appropriated  to  hospital  purposes.  Providentially  for 
Dr.  Sparrow,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Jerome  was  chaplain  for  a  time  at  the 
station,  and  thus  his  papers,  a  considerable  portion  of  his  books, 
and  some  little  of  his  furniture  were  saved. 

These  particulars  are  mentioned  because  there  is  a  common  im- 
pression that  the  Seminary  was  abandoned,  and  without  inmates,  or 
proper  representatives  of  its  owners.  This  is  a  mistake.  The  offi- 
cial guardian  of  the  property  at  all  other  times  was,  at  that  time, 
at  hand,  and  acting.  It  was  a  merciful  overruling  of  Divine 
providence  for  the  Institution  that  its  buildings  were  eventually 
appropriated  to  hospital  purposes ;  in  all  probability  this  was  the 
means  of  saving  them  from  complete  destruction. 

We  may  now  return  to  the  subject  of  this  memoir — the  refugee- 
life  of  the  head  of  the  Seminary,  in  his  new  and  trying  sphere  of 
experience:  This  will  form  the  subject  of  the  next  chapter. 


246  MEMOIR    OF 


CHAPTER    VII. 

REFUGEE    LIFE   IN    STAUNTON    AND    HALIFAX. 

Our  last  chapter  closed,  so  far  as  Dr.  Sparrow  was  personally 
concerned,  with  his  departure  from  the  Seminary,  soon  after  the 
occupation  by  the  Federal  army  of  Alexandria  and  the  adjacent 
neighborhood.  The  occupation,  with  the  establishment  of  a  line 
of  pickets  beyond  the  Seminary,  closed  communication  with  the 
interior,  and  thus  presented  the  alternative  of  departure  or  of 
indefinite  separation  from  his  family.  Other  reasons  for  such  de- 
parture, connected  with  the  resources  of  the  Institution,  and  the 
prospect,  in  any  degree,  of  doing  its  work  in  such  a  time,  have 
already  been  mentioned.  He,  therefore,  during  the  last  week  in 
May,  obtained  a  passport  from  the  commanding  officer,  and  rejoined 
his  family  at  Staunton,  where  they  remained  for  a  short  time.  From 
thence,  after  a  brief  sojourn,  they  went  to  the  Stribling  Springs,  a 
watering-place  not  far  distant,  and  there  spent  a  part  of  the  sum- 
mer. His  family  at  this  time  with  him  consisted  of  Mrs.  Sparrow 
and  two  of  his  daughters.  From  the  other  members  of  his  house- 
hold he  was,  by  the  events  of  the  period,  immediately  and  pain- 
fully separated.  Two  of  his  daughters,  Mrs.  Grammer  and  Mrs. 
Jerome,  were  north  of  the  Potomac,  with  but  little  opportunity  of 
communication,  the  difficulties,  in  this  respect,  being  increased  in 
the  case  of  Mrs.  Smith,  who  was  in  China.  Two  of  his  sons  were 
in  the  Confederate  army,  a  third  in  the  Confederate  service  in  an- 
other department ;  one  of  his  brothers  was  in  the  Federal  and  the 
other  in  the  Confederate  Congress.  These  simple  facts  will  be  suf- 
ficient to  show  the  painful  interest  with  which,  from  the  start,  he 
could  not  but  regard  the  whole  struggle.  And,  just  as  all  these 
elements  of  trial  were  making  themselves  manifest,  there  came  an- 
other— a  trial  at  all  times,  but  as  deeply  and  tenderly  felt  in  seasons 
of  general  calamity  and  distress  as  at  any  other,  perhaps  by  these 
latter  increased  and  deepened — the  loss  of  a  beloved  child,  Mrs. 
Dashiell,  who  died  very  suddenly,  in  Richmond.  When  little 
Blanche  Henning  died,  in  1853,  the  Doctor  gratefully  recognized 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  247 

the  mercy  of  God  which,  for  twenty  years,  had  spared  his  house- 
hold from  bereavement.  This  bereavement,  when  it  came  in  the 
death  of  the  adopted  one,  like  that  of  his  own  child  twenty  years  be- 
fore, was  that  which  was  involved  in  the  loss  of  an  infant.  But  this 
of  1861  was  different  and  much  severer,  to  be  followed,  at  no  long 
interval,  by  two  others  of  the  same  nature. 

A  letter  to  his  friend,  Cassius  F.  Lee,  Esq.,  written  during  the 
summer  of  this  year,  contains  some  of  the  facts  above  stated,  and 
may  properly  come  in  at  this  point.  It  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  that 
this,  like  all  the  communications  of  that  date  passing  through  the 
lines,  only  went  by  private  hands,  and  was,  therefore,  probably 
subject  to  long  delay  in  its  reception.  It  will  be  seen  from  it  that, 
with  the  burden  of  his  own  troubles  as  a  refugee,  he  had  room  for 
sympathy  with  the  troubles  of  others. 

"  STRIBLING  SPRINGS,  AUGUSTA  COUNTY,  VA., 

"  July  13,  1861. 
"  MY  DEAR  FRIEND  : — 

"  I  received  your  letter  of  the  4th  last  night,  and  hasten  to  an- 
swer it.  It  made  me  glad  and  made  me  sorry.  It  is  ever  a  plea- 
sure to  hear  from  you ;  but  it  deeply  saddens  my  heart  that  you 
are  placed  in  such  trying  circumstances.  But  my  faith  is  strong 
that  our  Lord  will  carry  you  safely  through.  In  Him  have  you 
trusted,  and  He  will  deliver  you.  Would  that  I  could  be  with  you, 
to  interchange  thoughts  and  feelings,  and,  by  mutual  Christian 
communion,  receive  and  impart  comfort.  When  I  left  the  Semi- 
nary, it  was  my  intention  to  return,  and,  therefore,  I  took  nothing 
with  me,  not  even  my  manuscripts.  But  as  soon  as  that  affray  at 
the  Court-house  occurred,  I  could  not  persuade  my  family  to  let  me 
go.  Indeed,  it  seemed  to  me  that  I  had  no  right  to  subject  their 
feelings,  and  especially  F.'s  health,  to  the  trial  of  nerve  which 
would  be  incident  to  a  departure  from  them  under  the  circum- 
stances. But  I  have  been  restless  and  uncomfortable  ever  since, 
as  though  my  proper  place  were  at  the  Seminary,  to  do  what  in  me 
lay  to  protect  it,  and  my  own  property,  and  that  of  others. 

"  In  regard  to  yourself,  I  can  only  say  that  I  have  written  letters 
and  held  conversations,  in  several  instances,  all  exhibiting  the 
views  of  your  letter  just  received.  I  thought  I  understood  your 
sentiments  on  this  greatest  of  calamities  perfectly,  and  have  not 
failed,  where  I  could,  to  enforce  them.  My  dear  friend,  the  Lord 


248  MEMOIR    OF 

is  a  strong  tower  to  them  that  trust  in  Him ;  and  I  earnestly  pray 
that  you  may  abundantly  realize  the  truth,  not  only  in  security  to 
you  and  your  dear  family,  but  in  the  peace,  quietness  and  assurance 
of  your  own  mind.  Myself  and  family  daily  remember  you  in  our 
prayers.  Do  write  me  as  often  as  you  can,  and  let  me  know  how 
things  are  getting  on. 

"  I  came  here  from  Staunton  a  few  days  ago,  and  will  remain  a 
month.  My  situation  in  Staunton  was  not  favorable,  and  Mrs.  S.'s 
and  my  daughter's  health  suffered.  The  evil  was,  no  doubt,  aggra- 
vated by  the  sudden  death  of  my  daughter  in  Richmond.  My  son 
Leonard  is  in  an  artillery  company  on  Aquia  Creek,  my  son 
Thomas  has  gone  to  the  West,  as  one  of  the  University  volunteers, 
and  my  son  William  is  employed  as  an  assistant  engineer  on  the 
railroad  west  of  Staunton.  We  have  heard  of  Mrs.  Grammer,  in 
Columbus,  Bishop  Mcllvaine  having  brought  the  letter  to  Wash- 
ington, but  not  from  Mrs.  Jerome,  in  Pennsylvania,  nor  Mrs. 
Smith,  in  China.  It  is  altogether  probable,  nay,  certain,  that  there 
are  letters  for  me  at  the  Seminary,  at  Alexandria,  or  at  Washing- 
ton. I  am  told  there  is  a  way  of  having  them  forwarded,  but  I 
know  not  how  it  is.  Should  you  know,  you  will  render  a  great 
service  by  having  it  done,  and  any  expense  incurred  will  be  cheer- 
fully paid.  I  am  told  that  it  is  through  the  Express  Company,  and 
that  it  pertains  only  to  foreign  letters — the  most  desirable  to  us. 

"  Mrs.  S.  and  my  daughters  desire  to  be  kindly  remembered  to 
Mrs.  L.  and  family. 

"  Ever  your  affectionate  friend,  W.  SPARROW." 

Nothing,  during  the  summer,  was  done,  in  the  way  of  specific 
effort,  toward  reorganizing  the  Seminary.  In  the  month  of 
October,  however,  there  was  a  meeting  of  the  Bishops,  and  some  of 
the  Trustees  and  clergy,  in  Richmond,  with  reference  to  an  effort 
for  such  purpose.  Dr.  Packard  being  kept  away  by  sickness,  Dr. 
Sparrow  was  the  only  one  of  the  Faculty  present,  and  took  part  in 
the  deliberations.  Various  plans  were  proposed  and  considered, 
but  there  was  great  difficulty  in  deciding  upon  any.  The  difficulty 
of  communication  was  so  great,  and  so  little  was  known,  at  the 
beginning  of  this  conference,  of  the  condition  of  the  Seminary 
buildings  and  grounds,  so  much  doubt  was  felt  as  to  whether  the 
buildings  were  not  destroyed,  or  damaged  irreparably,  that  with 
some  there  was  a  decided  inclination  to  find  a  new  locality  more  in 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,    D.  D.  249 

the  interior,  and  there  organize  for  future  operations.  Information 
was  communicated  that  the  buildings  and  grounds  of  the  Hugonot 
Springs,  in  Powhatan  county,  some  sixteen  miles  above  Richmond, 
could  be  obtained  for  a  comparatively  small  sum,  $10,000,  and  it 
was  proposed  that  this  should  be  the  locality.  A  committee  was 
appointed  to  visit  the  premises,  examine  them,  and  make  a  report. 
Some,  indeed,  were  in  favor  of  the  purchase,  only  for  temporary 
purposes,  and  having  in  view  a  return  to  the  old  locality,  as  it 
would  be  a  desirable  investment  of  funds  which,  in  all  probability, 
through  the  contingencies  of  war,  would  become  worthless,  a  result 
which  was  actually  realized.  As/  moreover,  the  buildings  were 
extensive,  the  plan  included  the  restoration  of  the  High-School  at 
the  same  locality,  and  a  temporary  continuation,  so  far  as  the 
boarding  department  was  concerned,  of  the  two  Institutions.  The 
complications  of  such  arrangement,  and  the  anticipation  of  financial 
and  other  difficulties  in  carrying  it  out,  led  to  its  abandonment. 
Just  at  this  point,  moreover,  reliable  intelligence,  from  one  who  had 
come  through  the  lines,  was  received,  that  the  Seminary  and  its 
buildings,  as  he  had  seen  them  within  the  few  days  previous,  were 
uninjured,  and  presented  very  much  their  old  appearance.  The  effect 
of  this  announcement  was  very  cheering,  and  it  was  eventually 
decided  to  give  up  the  effort  in  regard  to  the  High-School,  and  to 
make  trial  of  the  Seminary  at  Staunton.  It  is  a  noticeable  fact, 
that  the  proposed  new  locality,  near  as  it  was  to  Richmond,  was 
one  of  the  few  in  Virginia  untouched  by  military  movement  or 
occupation,  and  that  its  purchase  would  probably  have  saved  its 
value  in  funds  of  the  Seminary,  those  especially  in  bank  stock, 
which  at  the  close  of  the  war  were  of  no  value.  Dr.  Sparrow 
evidently  regarded  the  proposed  scheme  of  reorganization,  particu- 
larly that  feature  combining  the  two  Institutions,  as  visionary  and 
impracticable;  and  in  this  opinion,  Mr.  McGuire,  the  Principal  of 
the  High-School,  fully  concurred.  It  is  a  leaf  in  the  history  of  the 
Seminary,  as  in  the  biography  of  Dr.  Sparrow,  which  will  not  be 
without  its  interest  to  some  of  our  readers. 

The  actual  carrying  out  of  the  plan  thus  decided  upon  was  un- 
avoidably postponed  for  a  few  months.  It  was  entered  upon  by 
Dr.  Sparrow  and  Dr.  Packard  in  December.  In  the  interval  the 
former  was  called  as  a  delegate  from  the  Diocese  of  Virginia,  to 
attend  a  special  council  of  the  Southern  Dioceses,  at  Columbia, 
South  Carolina,  to  consider  the  question  and  manner  of  distinct 


250  MEMOIR    OF 

organization.  The  result  of  this  meeting  was  the  proposal  of  a 
constitution  to  be  submitted  to  the  dioceses,  and,  upon  their  accept- 
ance, to  be  the  basis  of  a  general  council  of  the  dioceses  consent- 
ing. On  his  way  to  this  meeting,  he  spent  several  days  in  Rich- 
mond, where  the  writer  met  -him,  and  was  particularly  struck,  in 
conversation  with  him,  by  the  absence  of  two  states  of  feeling 
which,  at  that  time,  with  others,  seemed  so  prevalent,  those  of 
bitterness  and  despondency  —  wrath  against  men,  and  want  of 
faith  in  God.  His  invariable  tone  was  one  of  forbearance  and 
cheerfulness.  The  latter  was  most  remarkable.  Indeed,  with  the 
exception  of  the  season  of  perplexity  incident  to  the  condition  of 
things  during  the  spring  of  this  year,  and  before  hostilities  actually 
commenced,  this  peculiarity  of  his  disposition  remained  unaffected. 
It  was  encouraging  to  one's  spirit  to  be  with  him,  to  witness  his 
repose  of  spirit,  his  cheerful  trust  in  the  overruling  wisdom  and 
goodness  of  God,  his  ready  sympathy  and  prompt  aid  wherever 
they  could  be  afforded.  One  little  incident  remains,  coming  up  in 
conversation,  and  bearing  upon  the  conflict  then  going  on.  He 
was  speaking  of  the  facility  with  which  efficient  soldiers  could  be 
created  out  of  our  population.  "When,"  said  he,  "I  was  at  Strib- 
ling  Springs,  I  was  walking  with  one  of  the  boys,  some  ten  or 
twelve  years  of  age,  who  had  been  out  with  his  gun  in  search  of 
game.  'Look  there,  Doctor/  said  he,  pointing  to  a  small  bird  up  a 
tree  some  distance  off,  '  look  there,  I  am  going  to  shoot  that  bird's 
head  off.'  And  sure  enough,  the  bird  fell,  and  his  head  was  gone. 
Small  chance  for  an  object  the  size  of  a  man  if  that  boy  should 
ever  be  a  soldier." 

The  conference  at  Columbia  terminated  toward  the  close  of 
November,  and  soon  after  the  Doctor  returned  to  Staunton.  In 
December  the  effort  was  made  to  resume,  with  such  students  as 
could  be  obtained,  the  exercises  of  the  Seminary.  The  number 
was  small,  and  this  was  made  smaller  by  the  conscription  of  the 
next  spring.  Dr.  Packard,  at  this  time,  rejoined  him,  and  for  five 
months  they  gave  instruction  to  the  students  under  their  charge. 
In  the  spring  of  1862  it  was  thought  advisable,  in  view  of  military 
movements  feared  or  contemplated,  to  make  a  change  of  locality. 
Dr.  Packard,  therefore,  returned  to  his  family,  in  Fauquier,  and 
was  prevented  by  sickness  and  other  providences  from  taking  part 
in  the  effort  to  keep  the  Seminary  going,  until  after  the  close  of  the 
war.  Dr.  Sparrow,  at  the  same  time,  moved  to  Halifax  county,  in 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  251 

the  southern  interior  of  Virginia,  where,  after  awhile,  he  was  re- 
joined by  the  students,  and  for  five  months,  that  is,  until  the  winter 
of  1862,  gave  them  instruction.  During  this  time  he  found  a  home 
at  the  house  of  the  Rev.  John  T.  Clark,  and,  as  mentioned  by  his 
host,  was  not  only  engaged  in  his  teaching  during  the  week,  but 
nearly  every  Sunday,  at  one  point  or  another,  preached  for  his 
brethren  in  the  neighborhood.  "  He  was  about  four  miles  from  my 
house,"  says  the  Kev.  Mr.  Powers.  "  I  had  known  him  before,  and 
he  frequently  visited  us  during  his  sojourn  in  Halifax,  walking 
the  four  miles,  and  sometimes  spending  a  day  and  night  with  us. 
His  unfailing  cheerfulness,  the  charm  of  his  conversation,  his 
familiarity  with  every  topic,  at  home  in  the  simplest  as  well  as  in 
the  most  abstruse,  and  enjoying  the  one  as  much  as  the  other,  his 
unostentatious  simplicity,  his  power  of  adapting  himself  to  every 
one,  so  that  all,  children  as  well  as  grown  people,  felt  at  home  with 
him,  and  delighted  to  be  in  his  company,  were  traits  that  made 
us  look  forward  to  his  visits  with  delight  and  expectation  that 
we  shall  never  forget."  "Our  little  band,"  says  one  of  the  stu- 
dents of  that  time,  Rev.  William  H.  Meade,  "  was  scattered  from 
Staunton,  whence  Dr.  Sparrow  proceeded  with  his  family,  to  Rev. 
John  T.  Clark's,  in  Halifax.  Late  in  the  following  summer,  some 
five  students,  P.  D.  Thompson,  Davies,  N.  H.  Lewis,  E.  H.  Ingle, 
and  W.  H.  Meade,  collected  around  the  Doctor,  all  except  E.  H. 
Ingle  boarding  in  Mr.  Clark's  family.  We  were  thus  thrown  into 
very  intimate  relations  with  him.  A  little  later,  two  others  joined 
us,  Burke,  and  J.  A.  Mitchell,  of  Maryland.  In  the  following 
winter  we  went  back  to  Staunton  again. 

"  The  general  result  of  this  intercourse,  while  I  do  not  recall  any- 
thing special  to  relate  in  connection  with  it,  was  to  deepen  in  us 
love  and  admiration  for  the  man.  There  could  be  no  question  as 
to  the  Christian  and  the  scholar.  We  found  him  genial  and  gush- 
ing as  a  boy ;  ready  to  take  part  in  the  homely  sports  of  our  coun- 
try home.  In  social  intercourse  he  took  strong  hold  of  the  hospi- 
table community  in  which  he  was  sojourning.  He  was  virtually,  so 
far  as  the  pulpit  was  concerned,  the  minister  of  the  parish,  preach- 
ing, as  he  did,  almost  every  Sunday  while  I  stayed  in  Halifax.  He 
seemed  specially  to  delight  in  the  religious  exercises  Mr.  Clark  was 
accustomed  to  hold  upon  his  premises  for  colored  folks ;  often  would 
Dr.  Sparrow  conduct  them  himself,  while  he  was  largely  influential 
in  getting  us  at  similar  work  about  the  neighborhood.  In  a  word, 


252  MEMOIR    OF 

toe  were  all  drawn  to  him  as  teacher,  counsellor,  friend — almost 
companion — and  to  me  his  memory  is  precious." 

One  little  circumstance,  mentioned  by  the  doctor  himself,  in  con- 
nection with  his  sojourn  in  Halifax,  just  here  has  its  place :  "  I 
was,"  said  he,  "  one  afternoon  standing  on  the  porch,  and  saw  a 
wretched-looking  man — a  soldier — approaching,  who,  I  supposed, 
was  seeking  assistance,  and  it  was  only  after  he  came  up  and  spoke 
to  me  that  I  recognized  him.  I  did  not  know,"  said  he,  his  face 
flushing  and  his  eyes  filling,  "  I  did  not  know  my  own  son !" 

It  was  just  before  the  removal  to  Halifax  that  an  event  took 
place  of  mournful  significance  to  Dr.  Sparrow,  to  the  Diocese  of 
Virginia,  and  the  whole  Church — the  death  of  Bishop  Meade. 
The  Bishop's  relations  to  the  Seminary,  as  one  of  its  founders,  if, 
indeed,  he  may  not  be  regarded  as  its  founder,  and,  as  President  of 
the  Board  of  Trustees,  had  brought  him  into  close  relations  with 
Dr.  Sparrow  in  his  work.  Their  thorough  accord  upon  the  great 
questions  at  issue  in  the  Church  brought  them  still  more  closely 
together.  It  is  deeply  to  be  regretted  that  their  correspondence, 
which  seems  to  have  been  full  and  frequent,  should  have  entirely 
disappeared.  And  it  was  with  no  ordinary  emotion  that  intelli- 
gence of  this  mournful  event  was  received  by  the  survivor.  His 
feelings  found  expression  in  the  sermon  affixed  to  the  biography  of 
the  Bishop,  preached  originally,  and  soon  after  the  event,  at  Staun- 
ton,  but  afterwards  incorporated  by  Bishop  Johns  in  his  volume. 

But  the  sadness  of  this  loss  to  himself,  in  common  with  the  whole 
Church,  was  followed  by  another  of  a  personal,  private  nature — 
that  of  another  beloved  child,  Mrs.  Smith,  in  her  distant  home  of 
missionary  labor.  It  will  be  remembered  that  in  the  spring  of 
1861  he  was  greatly  perplexed  and  grieved  at  the  prospect  of  the 
abandonment  of  the  mission,  and  the  return  homeward  of  herself 
and  husband.  Arrangements,  however,  had  been  effected  by  which 
the  mission  could  be  sustained.  Scarcely,  however,  had  he  re- 
ceived the  announcement  of  this  fact,  before  it  was  followed  by  that 
of  her  departure.  The  following  letter  of  Bishop  Boone  tells  the 
mournful  story : — 

"SHANGHAI,  July  30,  1862. 
"My  DEAR  BROTHER: — 

"  It  grieves  me  to  communicate  the  melancholy  tidings  we  have 
received  from  the  North.  Your  precious  daughter  Susan,  our 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  253 

beloved  sister,  has  been  taken  away  from  us.  She  was  carried  off 
by  cholera,  as  in  a  moment.  I  will  give  the  particulars  in  the 
words  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  McCartie,  who,  by  a  kind  Providence,  were 
with  our  brother  and  sister  in  the  hour  of  their  trial. 

"  Mrs.  McCartie  writes,  under  date  of  July  14th,  1862 :  '  Mr. 
Smith  begs  me  to  write  a  few  lines  to  tell  you  of  the  unexpected 
and  severe  bereavement  which  has  befallen  him.  Dear  Mrs. 
Smith  'sleeps  in  Jesus.'  She  died  of  cholera,  this  morning.  Dr. 
McCartie  was  providentially  here,  and  it  is  a  comfort  to  feel  that 
everything  was  done  for  her  that  could  be,  although  God  has  taken 
her  to  Himself.  Mrs.  Smith  had  been  two  weeks  in  Yentai  (Chi- 
foo),  and  was  expecting  to  come  home  Friday,  but  was  prevented. 
However,  she  sent  her  little  Fannie  and  Johnnie,  hoping  to  come 
the  next  day,  but  the  very  heavy  rains  prevented.  Sabbath  p.  M. 
Mr.  Smith  went  for  her ;  she  was  delighted  to  reach  home  once 
more,  but  had  suffered  from  headache  all  day,  and  after  tea  and 
prayers  retired  early.  About  nine  o'clock  she  asked  for  some  medi- 
cine for  diarrhoea,  as  she  feared  she  might  disturb  us  in  the  night. 
About  midnight  Dr.  McCartie  was  called,  as  she  had  cramps  in  her 
limbs ;  and  from  that  time  Dr.  McCartie  and  Mr.  Smith  carefully 
watched  and  nursed  her  till  six  this  morning.  I  find  my  husband 
has  already  written  you  a  note,  so  I  will  not  add  more.' 

"  Dr.  McCartie  writes  under  the  same  date,  Monday,  the  14th 
July.  He  writes  from  Mr.  Smith's  house:  'My  dear  Bishop 
Boone :  Mrs.  McCartie  and  I  accepted  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Smith's  kind 
invitation  to  come  out  here  on  Friday  P.  M.,  although  Mrs.  Smith 
was  obliged  to  remain  in  Yentai,  in  attendance  on  Mrs.  Holmes, 
who  had  been  sick  for  some  ten  or  twelve  days  previously.  The 
rains  and  the  /Sabbath  kept  us  from  starting  from  Larry-chow,  and 
last  evening  Mrs.  Smith  was  enabled  to  get  out  here,  much  worn 
out  and  ailing,  owing  to  fatigue  and  care  in  nursing,  which  was  too 
much  for  her  in  her  state  of  health.  Last  night,  about  eleven  p. 
M.,  she  was  taken  with  cholera,  and,  in  her  weak  and  exhausted 
state,  a  few  hours  have  been  sumcient  to  loose  the  silver  cord,  and 
while  I  am  now  writing  (in  hope  to  catch  the  mail)  her  spirit  is 
just  leaving  the  earthly  house  of  her  tabernacle,  we  trust  to  be 
clothed  upon  with  her  house  which  is  from  heaven. 

" '  Six  A.  M.  She  is  gone.  Poor  brother  Smith  is  heart-broken, 
but  leans  on  Jesus.  It  is  a  comfort  to  us  all  that  Mrs.  McCartie 
and  I  are  with  him,  although  we  have  been  able  to  do  but  little 


254  MEMOIR    OF 

for  our  departed  sister.  Mrs.  Smith  said  but  little,  but  her 
answers  to  my  questions  indicated  a  calm  reliance  upon  Christ,  and 
a  willing  and  cheerful  submission  to  God's  holy  will.  I  said,  'You 
are  willing  to  leave  the  issue  with  him?'  She  said,  'Yes.'  'Are 
you  able  to  rely  peacefully  upon  him?'  'Yes,  I  think  so.'  Mr. 
S.  wishes  her  buried  at  Larry-chow.  As  soon  as  the  friends  can 
get  here  from  Yentai  we  will  determine  upon  the  plans  to  be 
pursued.  As  the  mail  is  expected  in  an  hour  or  two,  I  have  been 
obliged  to  write  in  great  haste.' 

"This  is  all  the  information  we  have  received,  and  I  have  copied 
it  for  you,  my  dear  brother,  as  I  know  every  line  will  have  a  deep 
interest  for  you.  We  have  not  yet  heard  from  Mr.  Smith,  and  do 
not  know  if  any  news  went  home  to  you  by  the  last  mail. 

"  Mrs.  Boone  has  written  to  Mr.  Smith,  begging  him  to  send  little 
Fanny  to  us,  as  we  can  perhaps  take  better  care  of  her  than  any  of 
his  other  friends.  Jane,  our  Irish  nurse,  promises  to  do  her  best 
for  her,  and  our  little  Robbie  pleads  very  hard  for  a  little  com- 
panion. It  will  benefit  both  the  children  to  be  together,  and  I 
have  no  doubt  Mr.  S.  will  send  her  to  us  if  he  can  make  up  his 
mind  to  the  separation.  I  will  write  to  him  and  advise  him  to 
come  down  himself,  as  it  is  too  much  for  him  to  undertake  a  mission 
by  himself.  We  may  probably  get  a  line  from  him  before  the  mail 
leaves,  and  I  will  keep  this  letter  open  to  communicate  any  further 
information  we  may  receive.  We  are  an  afilicted  mission,  and  we 
mourn  deeply  the  loss  of  your  dear  daughter ;  but  we  know  that 
'  He  doeth  all  things  well '  who  has  taken  her  away  from  us,  and 
we  say  to  Him,  'Thy  will  be  done.'  It  is  infinite  wisdom  and  love 
that  have  ordered  this  dispensation,  and  we  want  to  be  under  just 
these  two  infinite  attributes. 

"August  2.  We  have  just  received  news  from  Mr.  S.  as  late 
as  the  27th  of  July.  He  and  the  baby  were  both  well.  There 
has  been  sad  mortality  at  Chi-foo.  A  Mr.  Hall  and  child,  Mrs. 
Bonheur,  and  the  last  remaining  child  of  the  Mills'  have  died.  It 
is  sad,  sad;  enough  to  make  us  all  weep.  God  in  mercy  sanctify  it 
to  us  all.  You  must  all  live  under  a  dreadful  tension,  with  so  many 
dear  ones  daily  exposed  to  a  violent  death.  God  in  mercy  grant  us 
peace,  on  those  terms  He  sees  to  be  best  for  all.  Mrs.  Boone  joins 
me  in  kind  regards  to  Mrs.  Sparrow  and  all  your  family. 
"  With  much  sympathy, 

"  Affectionately  yours,  WM.  J.  BOONE. 

"Rev,  Dr.  Sparrow" 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  255 

In  the  spring  of  1863,  the  year  after,  during  the  Diocesan  Coun- 
cil, the  writer  visited,  with  the  Doctor,  the  Bishop's  grave,  in 
Hollywood  Cemetery,  near  Richmond.  In  the  course  of  the  walk 
he  spoke  of  his  daughter  who  was  resting  in  the  same  locality,  and 
of  the  other  who  soon  followed  her,  and  when  he  came  to  the  grave 
of  the  Bishop,  it  was  with  deep  emotion  that  he  contemplated  and 
spoke  of  it.  His  feelings  toward  the  Bishop  were  very  peculiar; 
those  not  only  of  high  admiration  and  regard,  but  of  obligation 
and  deep  affection.  And  when,  some  four  or  five  years  afterward, 
he  was  assailed  as  a  teacher  of  false  doctrine,  one  part  of  his  reply 
was,  that  so  far  as  two  independent  minds,  seeking  the  truth,  could 
be  said  to  have  the  same  opinions,  the  Bishop's  and  his  were  the 
same;  that  between  them  there  was  no  substantial  difference. 

The  return  to  Staunton  took  place,  as  we  have  seen,  in  the  fall 
or  winter  of  1862-3.  And  with  the  exception  of  brief  visits  in  the 
neighborhood,  to  preach,  and  the  annual  call  to  the  Diocesan  Coun- 
cil, in  Richmond,  his  residence  there  continued  until  the  summer  of 
1865,  when  he  returned  to  the  Seminary.  His  own  memorandum, 
in  the  Record  Book  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Faculty,  made  in 
1865,  gives  us  the  material  for  this  period: — 

"In  the  month  of  May,  1861,  the  officers  and  students  of  the 
Theological  Seminary  were  interrupted  in  their  duties  by  the 
national  calamities  which  fell  upon  them.  The  students  dispersed 
to  their  homes,  North  and  South ;  the  Rev.  Dr.  May  went  to  his 
relations  in  Philadelphia;  the  Rev.  Dr.  Packard  to  his,  in  Fauquier 
County,  Virginia;  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Sparrow  to  Staunton,  Augusta 
County.  In  Staunton,  with  the  sanction  of  the  Board  of  Trustees, 
was  made  the  temporary  location  of  the  Seminary;  some  students 
assembled  for  instruction,  and  for  five  months  Dr.  Sparrow  and 
Dr.  Packard  taught  them  in  conjunction.  This  was  during  the 
months  of  December,  1861,  and  January,  February,  March,  and 
April,  1862.  After  that,  the  former  returned  to  his  family,  in 
Fauquier,  and  the  latter  retired,  to  avoid  the  dangers  and  excite- 
ments of  war,  to  Halifax  County,  and  there  taught  for  five  months. 
After  that  he  returned  to  Staunton  again,  and  there  remained  with 
the  students  which  conscription  left  him,  to  the  close  of  the  war." 

The  life  in  Staunton  would  naturally  be  one  of  little  striking 
incident.  Reports  of  raiding  parties,  and  military  movements, 
especially  toward  the  close,  would,  at  times,  abound,  and  be  pro- 
ductive of  their  due  excitement.  With  these  exceptions,  and  mak- 


256  MEMOIR    OP 

ing  allowance  for  the  common  burden  which  rested  upon  all  hearts, 
the  little  theological  circle  of  professors  and  students  went  on  with- 
out disturbance  in  their  peculiar  duties.  Dr.  Packard  was  not 
able  to  rejoin  them  after  the  return  to  Staunton,  and  Dr.  Sparrow, 
therefore,  in  the  work  of  instruction,  went  on  alone.  The  recita- 
tions, part  of  the  time,  were  held  in  the  vestry-room  of  the  church, 
sometimes  in  the  Doctor's  study ;  at  times,  when  he  was  feeble,  with 
the  teacher  on  a  lounge,  in  a  reclining  position — his  "  clinical  lec- 
tures," as  he  himself  humorously  called  them.  As  the  number  of 
students,  for  a  large  portion  of  the  time,  was  very  small,  he  took 
one  or  two  pupils  in  the  classics.  With  these  were  varied,  as  we 
have  seen,  his  occasional  duties  in  the  pulpit.  He  always  bore  in 
warm  and  grateful  remembrance  the  kindness  and  hospitality  with 
which  he  was  treated  by  this  community ;  spoke  of  their  thought- 
ful attention  and  aid,  during  a  portion  of  his  residence  among  them. 
And  the  impression  made  by  him  upon  them  was  most  salutary. 
To  a  degree  shared  by  very  few,  he  appreciated  the  great  ca- 
lamity which  had  fallen  alike  upon  the  country  and  upon  him- 
self. The  length,  and  breadth,  and  depth,  and  height  of  that 
calamity,  in  all  its  consequences,  material,  social,  moral,  and  espe- 
cially spiritual,  were  painfully  recognized.  As  a  refugee,  the  pecu- 
liarities of  this  season  of  trial  were  especially  wrought  into  his 
own  experience.  He  was  thus  thoroughly  sympathetic  with  those 
around  him,  but  not  overcome  by  despondency.  He  endeavored  to 
be  cheerful,  and  others  were  sustained  and  cheered  by  his  presence 
and  influence.  "I  saw  a  great  deal,"  is  the  language  of  a  corres- 
pondent, "of  our  departed  friend  during  the  war,  and  greatly 
enjoyed  intercourse  with  him.  He  bore  his  trials,  that  of  pecu- 
niary pressure  included,  with  Christian  fortitude.  Indeed,  his 
cheerfulness  was  truly  to  be  admired.  I  never  heard  him  express 
himself  at  all  as  regarded  the  causes  of  the  war;  but  only  felt  that 
it  was  a  privilege  to  hear  him  converse,  and  that  it  was  well  to 
have  been  with  him."  "I  saw  Dr.  Sparrow,"  says  Col.  Skinner, 
"  during  the  last  year  of  the  war,  very  frequently,  and  I  need  not 
say  I  enjoyed  greatly  his  kind  visits.  He  wrote  me  a  letter  from 
the  Seminary,  shortly  after  his  return  there,  expressive  of  his  sense 
of  obligation,  arid  full  of  warm  utterances  toward  the  people  of 
Staunton  for  their  many  kindnesses  to  him.  I  wish,  very  much, 
now,  that  I  had  preserved  it."  "  The  war,  as  you  no  doubt  know, 
was  a  great  trial  to  him ;  and  the  secular  papers  of  the  day,  I  think  I 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  257 

heard  him  say,  he  never  read.  His  heart  was  full  of  the  tenderest  sym- 
pathy for  the  people  of  the  South  in  their  sufferings.  But,  as  a  fol- 
lower of  the  Prince  of  Peace,  he  deprecated  all  war ;  and  my  impres- 
sion is — I  would  not  like  to  speak  with  entire  positiveness  about  this 
— that  his  opinion  was,  so  far  as  our  struggle  involved  and  turned 
upon  the  maintenance  of  slavery,  that  we  were  hopelessly  contending 
with  the  spirit  of  the  age.  He  rather  shrank  from  conversation  on 
these  subjects.  I  think  it  always  greatly  pained  him;  but  I  shall 
never  forget  his  deep  emotion  one  summer  afternoon,  as  he  paced 
my  front  porch,  in  full  view  of  woods,  and  waving  fields,  and  serene 
mountains  in  the  distance,  and  poured  forth  his  soul  in  holy  regrets 
at  the  internecine  strife  in  which  our  country  was  involved ;  so  that 
even  when,  perhaps,  I  did  not  altogether  coincide  with  him,  I  did 
not  hesitate  to  admire  his  Christian  earnestness,  nor  could  I  fail  to 
discern  that  his  spirit  dwelt  in  the  beauty  of  holiness.  Could  one 
but  be  favored  with  a  record  of  his  inner  life  during  those  years  of 
trial,  there  are  but  few  of  us,  I  imagine,  who  would  not  derive 
spiritual  benefit  therefrom." 

"He  occupied,"  says  another,  Mrs.  Shefiey,  "a  portion  of  the 
house  of  Mrs.  K.,  but  kept  a  separate  establishment,  furniture 
being  provided  for  himself  and  family,  and,  as  was,  doubtless, 
always  the  case,  he  greatly  enjoyed  his  domestic  life.  He  endured 
some  of  the  privations  incident  to .  the  war.  It  was,  however,  the 
pleasure  of  the  people  to  remember  him  in  many  acts  of  kindness 
and  loving  consideration.  And  it  is  a  sweet  pleasure  to  those 
whose  privilege  it  was  to  share  with  him  what  God  had  bestowed  on 
them,  to  recur  to  those  troubled  times,  and  to  recall  the  memory  of 
his  grateful  appreciation  of  the  goodness  of  God  in  opening  the 
people's  hearts  toward  him.  He  was  much  beloved  in  the  congre- 
gation, among  whom  he  frequently  ministered  in  holy  things,  in 
the  pulpit  and  otherwise.  He  visited  many  families  frequently, 
and  systematically;  and  in  some  of  them  he  was  a  household  favor- 
ite. He  was  everywhere  a  welcome  guest.  His  sympathy,  his 
interest,  and  tender  oneness  with  many  of  us  in  our  sorrows,  in 
connection  with  the  trials  of  the  times,  can  never  be  forgotten. 
His  heart  overflowed  with  tender  feeling  and  grief  as  he  witnessed 
the  afflictions  of  our  people;  and  to  the  sorrowing  and  anxious  he 
always  brought  the  precious  balm  of  Christian  consolation. 

"  His  health  was  not  robust ;  he  suffered  much  from  languor ; 
but  he  abated  not  his  work.     He  was  afflicted  with  sleeplessness; 
17 


258  MEMOIR    OP 

the  noise  on  the  streets,  and  the  barkings  of  dogs  at  night,  affect- 
ing his  delicate  nervous  temperament,  so  as  to  drive  away  refresh- 
ing slumber.  Indeed,  to  the  writer  of  this  he  once  remarked  that 
he  scarcely  ever  became  fully  unconscious  in  sleep.  His  favorite 
theme  in  religious  conversation  was,  'The  Heavenly  Rest.'  On 
one  occasion,  "he  started  from  his  seat,  walked  the  floor  hurriedly, 
and  exclaimed :  '  0,  think  what  it  will  be  to  serve  Him  unclogged 
by  these  bodies!' 

"  He  frequently  spoke  of  death,  and  expressed  the  desire  that 
he  might  not  have  to  endure  a  long  and  wasting  sickness,  but  that,  if 
it  were  God's  will,  he  might  go  quickly  to  his  eternal  home !  And 
his  Heavenly  Father  heard  him,  and  'so  He  gave  His  beloved  rest.' 

"  Unselfishness  and  self-sacrifice  were  traits  of  character  promi- 
nently brought  forward  during  his  stay  with  us.  He  was  an  exile 
from  his  once  pleasant  and  congenial  home,  and  exposed  to  many 
trials;  but  no  murmur  or  complaint  ever  escaped  his  lips.  He 
found  God  everywhere,  and  realized  fully  that  for  him  all  that  was 
was  full  of  blessing.  He  was  calm  and  trustful  in  the  midst  of  the 
most  exciting  events,  greatly  wise  as  a  counsellor,  and  brotherly  as 
a  comforter.  On  one  occasion  he  left  his  own  place  of  abode,  and, 
with  his  family,  spent  a  week  in  a  friend's  household,  to  comfort 
and  protect  its  inmates,  who  were  deprived  of  the  protection  of  the 
exiled  head  of  the  family. 

"There  were  no  busy,  startling  incidents  connected  with  his  stay 
in  Staunton.  But  there  was  left  behind  him,  when  he  went  from 
our  midst,  profound  sorrow  at  his  departure,  and  the  sweet  influ- 
ence of  a  thousand  remembered  acts  of  kindness  and  of  love  which 
make  the  sum  of  a  good  man's  life.  And  among  none  will  his 
memory  be  kept  green  and  fresh  longer  than  among  his  loving 
friends  of  old  Trinity." 

The  following  letter  to  Dr.  Packard,  who,  at  this  time,  was  in 
Alexandria,  belongs  here.  It  contains  a  beautiful  tribute  to  their 
departed  colleague,  Dr.  May;  and  it  affords,  incidentally,  evidence 
of  the  difficulties  of  communication  between  friends  across  the  lines 
of  the  opposing  armies. 

"  STAUNTON,  March  25,  1864. 

"  BEY.  AND  VERY  DEAR  BROTHER : — 

"  I  do  not  know  when  I  have  been  more  agreeably  surprised  than 
by  a  visit,  this  morning,  from  Dr.  P.;  and  I  gladly  embrace  the 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,    D.  D.  259 

opportunity  of  writing.  I  have  written  you  several  times  during 
the  last  twelve  months,  but  know  not  that  you  have  got  any  of  my 
letters.  The  last  from  you  was  November  the  fifth,  and  for  many 
a  month  before  I  had  heard  nothing.  I  am  thankful  to  learn  that 
your  health  is  decidedly  improving,  and  that  you  are  getting  on 
pretty  comfortably. 

"I  am  in  my  old  place,  'room-keeping/  as  the  phrase  is.  I  have, 
at  the  present,  Mr.  Gardner,  whom  you  know,  Mr.  McKim  and 
Mr.  Mitchell,  from  Maryland,  and  Mr.  Hutchinson,  who  was  in 
the  preparatory  department  when  we  broke  up.  Between  them  all, 
I  have  a  hard  time.  Ingle  has  been  ordained,  and  is  gone; 
Mitchell  has,  also,  been  ordained,  and  will,  probably,  soon  go ;  and 
Gardner  and  McKim  expect  to  be  ordained  in  seven  weeks.  Others 
are  talking  of  joining  the  Seminary. 

"  All  your  old  friends  here  are  as  usual.  Bishop  Johns  is  going, 
in  a  fortnight,  to  Halifax,  to  keep  house,  at  least  for  the  summer. 
Do  you  know  anything  about  my  son  William,  or  my  daughter 
Mary?  I  have  got  but  one  letter  from  W.,  and  I  wonder  at  his 
silence. 

"  Your  last  letter  did  not  reach  me  for  two  months  after  its  date. 
Before  it  arrived  I  had  been  shocked  and  grieved,  more  than  I  can 
express,  by  the  news  of  Dr.  May's  death.  Few  such  Christians 
have  gone  to  heaven  of  late  years.  It  was  specially  sad  to  me  that 
in  his  sickness  his  mind  was  unhinged  by  disease  most  of  the  time. 
I  should  like  to  have  heard  of  his  last  moments  if  lucid. 

"  My  family  are,  in  point  of  health,  about  as  usual.  L.,  who 
made  us  a  visit  of  a  fortnight,  the  first  in  a  year  and  a  half,  is  quite 
well.  T.  is  in  Petersburg,  but  not  at  all  well;  and  as  to  W.,  you 
know  more  of  him  than  I  do,  most  probably. 

"  My  family  here  desire  to  be  most  affectionately  remembered  to 
Mrs.  P.  Write  as  soon  as  you  can,  and  believe  me,  truly, 

"  Your  affectionate  brother,  W.  SPARROW." 

"On  the  first  day  of  January,  1865,"  writes  Kev.  Mr.  Hayden, 
describing  the  last  four  months  in  Staunton,  "  I  went  to  Staunton 
to  enter  the  theological  Seminary.  I  found  a  seminary  in  name, 
but  hardly  in  fact,  since  it  consisted  of  only  one  professor,  Rev. 
Dr.  Sparrow,  and  one  student,  Mr.  Thomas  C.  Hutchinson,  of 
Canada,  a  discharged  soldier.  Mr.  H.  was  a  man  of  considerable 
promise  and  great  earnestness.  He  had  entered  in  the  fall  of 


260  MEMOIR    OF 

1864,  and  died,  I  think,  of  typhoid  pneumonia,  on  the  12th  of 
March,  1865,  leaving  the  Seminary  once  more  with  the  one  profes- 
sor, and  one  student,  myself.  Dr.  Sparrow  was  then  living  at  Mrs. 
Porterfield  Kenney's,  and  Mr.  Hutchinson  and  myself  boarded  our- 
selves, at  the  house  of  Mrs.  Wm.  Kinney.  Of  the  life  of  Dr.  Spar- 
row during  this  time  and  the  following  months,  until  he  removed 
to  Alexandria,  I  suppose  little  could  be  learned  from  any  one.  Mr. 
Hutchinson  and  myself  were  in  different  classes,  and,  therefore, 
recited  separately.  I  am  sure  Dr.  Sparrow  took  the  same  interest 
in  our  studies,  and  lectured  to  us  as  earnestly,  and  with  the  same 
faithful  devotion  to  his  duties,  as  he  manifested  afterward  when  the 
Seminary  was  fuller  and  his  classes  more  interesting.  Excepting 
in  the  lecture,  we  saw  but  little  of  the  Doctor;  enough,  however,  to 
be  deeply  impressed  with  the  saintly  character  of  the  man,  and  to 
learn  to  love  him.  His  sons  were  all  in  the  army,  and  one  in  a 
United  States  prison.  As  I  knew  them,  he  frequently  spoke  of 
them  and  of  the  war,  but  studiously  kept  himself  in  ignorance  of 
much  that  occurred,  hardly  ever  reading  a  secular  paper.  His 
purpose,  doubtless,  was  to  keep  his  mind  free  from  the  anxieties 
and  excitements  which  such  reading  would  produce. 

"  I  remember,  as  a  little  incident,  on  one  occasion  taking  him  a 
plate  of  butter,  I  having  learned  that  he  had  none ;  it  was  then 
worth  $8.00  a  pound.  After  thanking  me  warmly,  he  asked,  '  How 
did  you  bring  it — in  a  basket?'  I  replied,  'No,  Doctor,  I  carried 
the  plate  in  my  hand.'  Opening  his  eyes,  as  he  was  accustomed  to 
do  at  anything  peculiar,  he  said,  '  I  must  congratulate  you,  sir,  upon 
the  absence  of  that  false  pride  that  would  make  many  a  man 
ashamed  to  carry  a  plate  through  the  street.'  As  the  thought  of 
shame  had  not  entered  my  mind,  his  manner  and  words  I  have 
not  been  able  to  forget.  The  Doctor  had  warm  ties  to  bind 
him  to  the  North,  yet  that  his  deep  sympathies  were  with  our 
people  in  their  severe  struggle,  no  one  could  fail  to  know  from 
his  spirit  and  conversation.  My  impression  of  such  fact  was 
deepened  by  everything  he  said  on  the  subject.  He  had,  how- 
ever, peculiar  views  about  wars.  He  seemed  to  think  that  no 
man  should  use  weapons  of  carnal  warfare,  even  in  his  own 
defence,  and  was  accustomed  to  say  that  if  his  life  were  in  danger 
he  would  not  strike  a  blow.  This  sentiment  the  Doctor  acted  out,  as 
he  several  times  told  us,  even  in  respect  to  his  property ;  that  he 
had  lost  it  rather  than  sue  for  his  rights." 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,    D.   D.  261 

With  the  close  of  the  war  was  the  almost  immediate  pre- 
sentation of  the  question  of  the  restoration  of  the  Seminary. 
The  buildings  had  escaped  destruction,  but  were  still  in  use  as 
hospitals,  and  in  the  hands  of  the  military  authorities.  Even  if 
turned  over  to  their  original  owners,  the  expenses  involved  in 
necessary  repairs  and  refurnishing  constituted  a  serious  obstacle. 
The  buildings  were  a  good  deal  injured,  the  furniture  of  the 
rooms  entirely  gone,  the  enclosures  and  out-houses  had  disappeared, 
and  large  portions  of  the  grounds  were  covered  with  temporary 
structures  for  the  accommodation  of  the  sick  and  wounded.  Still, 
it  was  deemed  advisable  to  make  a  beginning ;  and  this  was  entered 
upon  in  the  effort  to  obtain  possession.  Success  crowned  this 
effort;  and  when,  after  a  few  months'  delay,  the  Seminary  buildings 
and  grounds  were  turned  over  to  the  representatives  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees,  it  was  resolved  to  attempt  reorganization.  In  antici- 
pation of  this,  Dr.  Sparrow  left  Staunton  soon  after  the  close  of 
hostilities.  It  was  with  feelings  of  affectionate  interest  in  a  com- 
munity with  which  he  had  passed  through  the  trials  of  a  common 
calamity,  as  of  grateful  regard  for  kindnesses  of  which  he  had 
been  a  recipient,  that  he  was  prepared  to  take  his  departure.  That 
departure  was  characterized  by  an  act  of  thoughtful  attention  on 
one  side,  and  of  grateful  appreciation  on  the  other,  which  may 
well  find  place  in  this  record;  a  closing  token  and  evidence  of 
friendship  and  regard,  in  a  present,  most  delicately  tendered,  of 
the  means  to  meet  the  expenses  of  his  journey  and  removal. 
Dr.  Sparrow  would  have  been  deeply  affected  by  such  an  ex- 
pression of  kindness  at  any  time,  and  under  any  circumstances; 
but,  as  coming  from  that  community,  in  their  circumstances  of 
the  spring  of  1865,  it  was  recognized  as  an  abounding  "of  their 
liberality  out  of  the  depth  of  their  poverty,"  and  was,  therefore, 
still  more  cordially  appreciated. 

After  leaving '  Staunton,  he  stopped  for  a  short  time  in  Rich- 
mond, and  from  thence  went  to  Baltimore  and  the  Seminary.  From 
Baltimore  we  have  a  brief  letter  to  one  of  his  former  pupils,  to 
whom  we  are  indebted  for  portions  of  correspondence  in  the  chap- 
ters preceding. 

"  BALTIMORE,  July  8, 1865. 
"  REV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER  : — 

"  I  lately  saw,  for  a  few  moments,  a  pamphlet  by  you,  and  what 


262  MEMOIR    OF 

I  saw  I  was  much  pleased  with.  It  has  put  me  in  the  notion  of 
scribbling  these  lines,  though  with  a  rheumatic  hand,  for  'auld 
lang  syne ;'  though  I  confess  I  stand  in  doubt  how  such  as  I  will 
be  regarded,  even  by  old  friends  at  the  North.  If  you  can  exer- 
cise no  more  flattering  feeling  toward  us,  I  trust  that,  in  your 
magnanimity,  you  will,  at  least,  pity  us!  Do  tell  us  how  the 
Bishop's  pastoral  is  going  to  affect  you  all.  Should  there  be  any 
'  Alexander-the-coppersmith '  in  your  city,  you  may  have  trouble, 
and  the  next  thing  may  be  an  ecclesiastical  secession — /  hope  with 
a  successful  issue. 

"  I  am  here  with  Mrs.  S.  and  my  daughter  Frances,  and  two 
sons,  the  latter  looking  for  something  to  do.  As  soon  as  the  Semi- 
nary is  vacated,  I  return  to  it,  and  begin  life  anew,  furnishing  my 
house  afresh  with  everything  but  a  cradle !  It  seems  strange 
to  find  myseif  so  situated,  but  it  does  not  dishearten  me.  If  my 
strength  were  equal  to  my  spirits,  I  should  not  mind  it.  If  I  can, 
I  shall  visit  New  York  before  the  autumn,  and  shall  take  real 
pleasure  in  talking  over  old  times,  and  being  posted  up  for  the  past 
four  years.  You  may  judge  how  ignorant  I  am,  from  the  fact  that  I 
never  read  the  papers  during  the  war.  But  in  the  meanwhile, 
steal  a  half  hour,  and  write  me  at  this  place,  telling  all  about  your- 
self, and  directing  the  letter  to  the  care  of  Rev.  Julius  E.  Gram- 
mer,  St.  Peter's  Church,  Baltimore. 

"  Ever  yours,  affectionately,  W.  SPARROW. 

"Rev.  Dr.  Canfield" 

The  event  contemplated  in  this  letter,  the  evacuation  of  the 
Seminary  by  its  military  occupants,  took  place  very  soon  after  it 
was  written;  and  within  the  next  six  weeks  the  Doctor  and  his 
family  were  in  their  old  residence.  Dr.  Packard  was  also  present, 
having  reached  there  before  him.  The  prospect,  indeed,  was  not  at 
all  assuring.  Of  the  endowment  of  the  Seminary,  'at  least  half  had 
become  worthless,  and  of  that  remaining  a  considerable  portion 
was  bearing  no  interest.  The  Seminary  had  to  be  refurnished,  as 
also  the  houses  of  the  professors;  and  for  all,  repairs,  expensive 
and  thorough,  were  urgently  needed.  It  was  all  doubtful  as  to 
what  might  be  anticipated  in  the  material  of  men  for  the  classes, 
and  quite  as  much  so  as  to  the  capacity  of  the  Education  Society 
to  afford  such  pecuniaiy  aid  as  might  be  needed.  Still,  the  effort 
had  to  be  made,  and  it  was  determined  to  begin  at  the  usual  time. 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  263 

Providentially,  there  came  relief  just  when  it  was  most  needed, 
in  the  shape  of  a  legacy,  made  to  the  Institution  not  long  before 
the  war,  and  this  secured  temporary  provision  for  the  under- 
taking. Things  were  righted  up  as  far  as  possible.  Some  few 
rooms  were  furnished  in  the  Seminary;  furniture  enough,  of  the 
simplest  kind,  to  enable  them  to  live,  was  obtained  by  the  pro- 
fessors; temporary  buildings  connected  with  previous  occupants 
were  removed,  a  rough  enclosure  for  the  grounds  was  put  up,  and 
the  anticipated  opening  anxiously  awaited.  During  a  part  of  this 
interval,  in  the  month  of  September,  Dr.  Sparrow  was  in  Richmond, 
at  the  special  Diocesan  Council,  called,  in  view  of  the  condition  of 
things  which  had  prevented  its  meeting  at  the  usual  time,  in  the 
month  of  May.  He  was  exceedingly  anxious,  in  view  of  the  inter- 
ests of  the  Seminary,  as  of  those  of  peace  and  love,  that  initiatory 
movements  should  be  made  for  reunion  with  the  General  Conven- 
tion. But  to  this,  with  the  large  majority  of  the  Council,  there 
were  decided  objections;  and  the  whole  subject  was  postponed 
until  the  next  Council.  With  the  termination  of  this  Council  came 
the  time  of  commencement  for  the  exercises  at  the  Seminary. 

During  the  preparations  for  this,  or  rather,  just  as  they  were 
beginning,  and  before  the  Seminary  had  been  restored  to  its  author- 
ities, an  issue,  of  very  serious  interest,  both  for  himself  and  the 
Institution,  was  presented  to  Dr.  Sparrow  for  decision:  another 
invitation  to  Gambier.  The  authorities  there,  probably  regarding 
the  prospect  of  the  restoration  of  the  Virginia  Seminary  as  a  hope- 
less one,  extended  to  him  an  invitation  to  a  professorship  in 
that  Institution,  and  outwardly  there  were  very  considerable 
inducements  in  favor  of  the  change.  His  account  of  its  reception, 
and  of  his  decision  and  reply,  are  contained  in  the  following  note 
to  his  old  friend,  Mr.  Cassius  F.  Lee,  who  was  then  working  with 
him  for  restoration  at  Alexandria. 

"BALTIMORE,  June  26,  1865. 
" MY  DEAR  SIR:— 

"I  have  just  received  your  letter.  I  got  here  yesterday  morn- 
ing, by  steamer  from  Richmond,  after  a  most  fatiguing  journey  from 
Staunton.  But  though  wearied  in  body,  Mrs.  S.,  F.  and  myself 
have  been  refreshed  in  spirit  by  seeing  our  children. 

"Immediately  on  the  receipt  of  the  proposition  from  Ohio,  I  de- 
clined it.  I  have  no  disposition  to  leave  Virginia  while  she  thinks 


264  MEMOIE    OF 

my  services  worth  having.     Her  being  in  distress  is  a  reason  with 
me,  if  I  can  live  at  all,  to  abide  with  her,  and  share  her  lot. 

"  Truly  and  affectionately  yours,  W.  SPAREOW. 

"  C.  F.  Lee,  Esq.,  Alexandria,  Va." 

With  this  determination,  and  with  the  feeling  expressed  a  week 
or  two  after,  in  the  letter  to  Dr.  Canfield — "  It  seems  strange  to  find 
myself  so  situated,  but  it  does  not  dishearten  me.  If  my  strength 
were  equal  to  my  spirits,  I  should  not  mind  it " — he  was  prepared  to 
take  his  part  in  rebuilding  what  had  been  thrown  down.  The 
degree  of  success  connected  with  that  effort  will  form  one  of  the 
subjects  of  the  chapter  following. 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  265 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

THE    WORK    OF    RESTORATION. 

It  was,  as  already  hinted,  under  very  discouraging  circumstances 
that  the  session  of  1865-6  was  begun.  Apart  from  unallayed 
excitement  in  one  portion  of  the  country,  and  hopeless  depression 
in  the  other,  the  consequent  feeling  of  uncertainty  as  to  the  politi- 
cal, social,  and  ecclesiastical  future,  there  were,  in  the  peculiar 
circumstances  of  the  Seminary  itself,  certain  features  well  calcu- 
lated to  produce  discouragement.  The  loss  of  so  large  a  part  of 
the  endowment,  already  mentioned,  had  its  necessary  influence. 
This,  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances,  would  have  been  a 
serious  calamity.  It  was,  of  course,  greatly  aggravated  by  those 
of  the  time.  In  the  Diocese  of  Virginia,  from  which  contributions 
might  have  seemed  due,  individuals  and  congregations,  hitherto 
most  liberal  friends  of  the  Seminary,  were  struggling  with  pov- 
erty. The  diocese,  moreover,  had  not,  as  yet,  adjusted  her  relations 
to  the  General  Convention ;  and  there  was,  manifestly,  a  difficulty 
in  seeking  aid  in  that  direction.  In  the  other  Southern  dioceses 
there  were  the  same  difficulties,  pecuniary  and  ecclesiastical;  and, 
with  the  exception  of  Kentucky  and  South  Carolina,  but  little 
sympathy,  theological  or  ecclesiastical,  with  the  Seminary  of  Vir- 
ginia. The  Johns  legacy,  which  had  come  in  opportunely  for  the 
special  emergency  of  making  the  start,  could  last  but  for  a  short 
time.  Contrasted  with  these  prospects  were  the  most  pressing 
necessities,  mentioned  in  the  close  of  the  last  chapter,  arising  from 
the  dilapidation  and  emptiness  of  the  buildings,  and  want  of  enclo- 
sures for  the  grounds.  As,  however,  the  beginnings  were  expected 
to  be  small,  provision  was  made  to  the  extent  possible  for  necessi- 
ties as  they  might  arise.  The  Prayer  Hall  was  furnished,  to  be 
used  for  morning  and  evening  worship,  as  also  for  Sunday  services 
during  the  first  four  or  five  months  of  the  session.  It  served,  also, 
during  the  week,  as  a  recitation  room  for  Dr.  Packard.  Dr.  Spar- 
row's classes  were  provided  for  in  his  study,  the  recitation  rooms 
not  being,  as  yet,  furnished.  The  chapel  having  been  used  for 
religious  services  during  the  military  occupation,  was  in  somewhat 


266  MEMOIK    OP 

better  condition  than  the  other  buildings.  In  view,  however,  of 
the  difficulty  and  expense  of  heating  it,  as  also  of  the  small  congre- 
gation, it  was  not  used  until  the  following  spring. 

From  the  necessities  of  the  case,  and  the  material  at  hand,  there 
were  but  two  theological  classes,  a  junior  and  middle  class,  and  one 
of  preparatories.  Some  of  those  who  had  been  in  Staunton,  with 
one  or  two  additions,  formed  the  middle  class,  and  the  other  two 
classes  were  made  up  of  new  material.  Dr.  Sparrow  taught  Church 
History,  in  addition  to  his  usual  course,  and  gave  instruction,  also, 
to  some  of  the  students  in  the  Preparatory  Department.  Dr.  Pack- 
ard, also,  had  extra  classes ;  and  toward  the  close  of  the  session 
one  of  the  students,  Mr.  Dudley,  now  assistant  Bishop  of  Ken- 
tucky, rendered  very  efficient  aid  in  teaching  preparatory  classes. 
The  number  was  quite  as  large,  if  not  larger  than  had  been  antici- 
pated ;  and  the  effect  of  getting  under  way  was  to  give  encourage- 
ment to  all  concerned.  We  have  but  a  few  letters  of  Dr.  Spar- 
row's during  this  session.  Accounts  from  some  of  his  pupils  give 
interesting  particulars.  The  writer  visited  the  Seminary  twice 
during  this  session.  During  the  first  visit  the  Doctor  was  absent, 
called  away  by  the  illness,  terminating  in  the  death  of  his  eldest 
daughter,  Mrs.  Jerome.  At  this  time,  the  first  of  April,  1866,  the 
appearance  of  things,  especially  of  the  grounds,  was  peculiarly 
discouraging.  The  very  grass  had,  in  many  places,  in  the  succes- 
sion of  camps,  been  killed  to  the  roots,  leaving  the  fields  full  of  bare 
places.  This,  indeed7  was  very  much  the  appearance  of  things  in 
the  country  between  the  Seminary  and  Alexandria,  as  there  had 
been  no  cultivation,  except  in  small  garden-patches,  since  the  spring 
of  1861,  and  the  ground  occupied  by  the  camps  had  been  thus 
cleared  of  vegetation.  The  writer  remembers,  during  this  visit, 
standing  in  Dr.  Packard's  porch,  on  the  bright  April  Sunday 
morning,  and  as  he  looked  over  the  grounds  and  neighborhood  in 
sight,  it  was  with  the  involuntary  question,  can  there  be  a  restora- 
tion ?  Can  any  one  hereafter  have  an  idea  as  to  how  this  place 
looked  in  former  times?  Wonderful  it  was  how  soon  that  restora- 
tion came.  The  very  causes  of  the  evil  ministered  to  its  removal. 
As  soon  as  the  camps  were  gone,  the  residue  of  those  camps,  the 
scattered  seed  of  their  forage,  the  enriching  influence  of  human  and 
animal  occupation,  hastened  restoration.  Grass,  in  an  unusual 
amount,  covered  the  country,  and  very  soon  the  bareness  had  dis- 
appeared. 


WILLIAM    SPAKKOW,   D.  D.  267 

The  second  of  these  visits  was  immediately  after  the  Council  in 
Alexandria,  nearly  two  months  later,  when  he  walked  out  with  Dr. 
Sparrow  on  Sunday  afternoon,  and  shared  with  him  in  the  hopeful 
anticipation  of  restored  prosperity  to  the  Institution.  The  Council 
had  just  settled  the  question  of  the  relations  of  the  diocese  to  the 
General  Convention.  The  board  of  Trustees  had  elected  an  addi- 
tional professor,  to  take  the  duties  of  the  lamented  Dr.  May,  and 
there  were  favorable  intimations  that  the  number  of  students,  for 
the  next  session,  would  be  considerably  increased.  During  this 
Council,  the  Doctor  was  still  wearing  a  suit  of  Confederate  home- 
spun, one  of  the  memorials  of  the  season  of  trial  through  which 
he  had  been  passing. 

A  brief  extract  from  one  of  his  letters  of  this  session  will  show 
that,  while  hastily  engaged  in  his  work  at  the  Seminary,  his  inter- 
est in  the  general  affairs  of  the  Church  was  undiminished.  "  I 
regretted,"  says  he  to  Dr.  Canfield,  "  that  you  were  not  in  New 
York  when  I  passed  through.  I  should  have  liked  much  to  have 
talked  about  old  times,  and  got  posted  up  for  the  years  that  I  have 
lost  in  exile.  There  is  one  thing  I  exceedingly  want  to  know  in 
regard  to  the  present,  and  that  is  the  effect  of  the  controversy 
between  Bishop  P.  and  his  presbyters,  in  which  you  were  magna 
pars.  If  you  should  have  ten  minutes'  leisure  at  any  time,  do 
write  me,  and  let  me  know.  Why  have  not  trials  come  ?  What 
is  the  influence  of  the  whole  affair  on  Presbyterial  liberty?  Have 
we  secured  by  the  movement  anything  in  time  to  come?  Do  you 
ever  come  to  the  Capital?  If  so,  do  not  fail  to  visit  us  here." 

To  REV.  J.  A.  JEROME. 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINAET,  October  2,  1865. 
"  MY  DEAR  J.:— 

"  Having  nothing  very  special  to  do  to-night,  I  am  disposed  to 
drop  you  a  line.  Day  after  to-morrow  my  work  begins.  Two 
students  are  on  the  ground,  and  there  is  a  fair  prospect  of  several 
more.  It  would  be  absurd  in  us  to  look  for  any  but  the  humblest 
beginnings.  You  have  heard  how  we  have  all  been  sick,  of  the 
intermittent;  but  I  doubt  not  we  are  all  through  the  worst  of  it. 
I  hope,  therefore,  that  neither  that,  nor  anything  else,  will  call  you 
back  till  your  errand  is  accomplished.  We  shall  take  good  care  of 
M.  and  the  children.  I  suppose  you  will  want  to  be  at  the  Gene- 
ral Convention.  J.  has  just  written  me;  he  will  be  there  if  possi- 


268  MEMOIR    OF 

ble.  I  wish  I  could  be  there,  chiefly,  however,  to  see  the  brethren 
from  whom  I  have  been  cut  off  for  five  years.  As  to  the  Conven- 
tion, the  most  expressive  and  efficient  course  they  can  pursue  in 
regard  to  reunion  is  to  be  silent.  Any  one  who  really  knows  the 
South,  must  be  aware  that  there  is  no  separatist,  schismatical 
spirit  in  the  Episcopal  Church  thereof;  all  want  to  re-establish  their 
old  ecclesiastical  relations.  It  is  already  done  in  spirit,  and  soon 
will  be  done  in  form,  if  loquacious  political  Churchmen  throw  no  ob- 
stacle in  the  way.  But  why  talk  thus?  The  Lord  liveth.  Let 
me  hear  from  you.  Love  to  all  the  brethren  you  meet  that  will 
accept  it. 

"  Your  affectionate  father,  WM.  SPAEROW." 

"  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  October  25,  1865. 
"DEAR  J.:— 

"  Though  I  have  so  recently  written  to  you,  I  am  disposed  to 
write  again.  I  thank  Mr.  B.  for  his  suggestion,  and  may,  here- 
after, turn  it  to  account.  I  am  glad  to  hear  Mr.  G.  P.  spoke  about 
us  before  the  Church  Missionary  Society,  and  was  listened  to  favor- 
ably. It  grieves  me,  however,  to  think  that  the  liberality  of  so 
good  a  man  as  Mr.  W.  should  be  turned  away  from  us  by  what 
occurred  in  the  Convention.  Be  they  right  or  wrong,  we  are  not 
the  Convention ;  and  while  we  are  not  the  Convention,  we  are  our- 
selves, i.  e.,  the  Seminary,  the  same  we  ever  were.  As  long  as  I 
am  connected  with  it,  the  Seminary  shall  always  be  what  it  was 
when  dear  Dr.  May  was  of  our  number. 

"Between  him  and  me,  and,  so  far  as  I  know,  between  him  and 
others  who  controlled  the  Seminary  and  determined  its  character, 
there  never  was  the  slightest  difference  of  opinion.  He  supposed  our 
calling  was  to  teach  theology,  and  not  politics,  and  from  the  latter 
we  all  kept  aloof.  As  regards  war,  oh,  how  earnestly  did  we  depre- 
cate it !  He  would  gladly  have  given,  I  believe,  all  he  was  worth 
in  this  world  to  avert  it,  and  so  would  I.  As  to  slavery,  while  he 
and  we  all  deprecated  its  sudden  abolition  as  productive  of  mischief 
all  round,  we  never  regarded  it  as  anything  else  than  an  evil,  sooner 
or  later,  in  the  providence  of  God,  to  be  removed.  If  the  Semi- 
nary ever  did  work  which  was  acceptable  to  God,  and  beneficial  to 
the  Church,  there  is  no  reason  now,  so  far  as  its  tone  and  principles 
are  concerned,  why  it  should  not  continue  so  to  do.  And  for  the 
.same  reason,  therefore,  the  class  of  men  who  befriended  us  in 


WILLIAM    SPARKOW,   D.  D.  269 

former  years  may  very  consistently  aid  us  in  our  present  great 
necessity.  When  the  Seminary  ceases  to  sustain  Evangelical 
principles,  or  presumes  directly  or  indirectly  to  encourage  dis- 
loyalty to  the  government  under  which  we  live,  I  shall  consider  it 
to  have  departed  from  its  calling  and  original  design,  and  I  am  done 
with  it. 

"  The  doings  of  the  Convention,  which  you  say  produced  such 
excitement,  admit,  on  all  sides,  of  a  better  and  fairer  interpretation 
than  passion  can  at  present  give  them.  As  you  say,  there  was  no 
'  dictation '  in  the  conduct  of  Bishops  Atkinson  and  Lay.  Whatever 
their  own  private  opinions  on  the  subject  in  its  political  relations,  they 
might  very  well  wish  that  the  thanksgiving  should  be  confined  to 
the  restoration  of  peace.  Under  that  word  every  man  might  surely 
be  allowed  to  comprehend  more  or  less,  according  to  his  own  pri- 
vate opinions.  If  thankful  for  peace,  especially  under  the  circum- 
stances, they  must  be  opposed  to  war,  and  set  against  a  return  of 
it.  They  must,  also,  have  acquiesced  in  the  decision  of  Providence 
as  seen  in  the  finale  of  that  war.  In  the  present  sore  state  of 
their  feelings,  then,  why  insist  on  more  ?  What  spiritual  good  can 
come  of  it  ?  It  is  not  for  legislation  of  this  kind  to  set  the  heart 
right,  if  it  is  wrong.  And  should  it  be  thought  that  every  mem- 
ber should  adopt  certain  political  principles  under  pain  of  virtual 
excommunication,  let  it  be  remembered  that,  so  far  as  the  theologi- 
cal enunciation  of  these  principles  is  concerned,  all  parties  are 
already  agreed.  It  is  only  in  the  practical  application  of  them 
they  differ;  and  to  insist  that  they  practically  agree  in  this  regard, 
is  to  identify  church  and  state,  religion  and  politics.  But  I  did 
not  mean  to  say  so  much.  I  only  add,  that  ten  years  hence  many 
among  us  will  wonder  how  we  could  be  so  biased  by  feeling.  Thank 
God,  it  is  very  much  precluded  in  my  case  by  my  position. 

"  Do  you  hear  anything  of  the  New  York  troubles  ?  As  I  said 
in  my  last,  that,  in  my  view,  is  vastly  more  important  to  us  as  a 
Church  than  much  that  is  now  exciting  them  in  Philadelphia.  I 
am  curious  to  see  how  the  missionary  bishops  will  come  out,  and 
whether  they  will  give  us  one  out  of  the  batch;  I  hope  C.  is  a  sound 
man,  for  a  High- Churchman. 

"I  have  done  as  you  directed  with  the  bond,  and  returned  it  to 
the  company.  Return  my  kind  regards  to  the  brethren  that  wished 
to  be  remembered  to  me.  I  know  nothing  of  D.  By  the  way, 
late  as  it  is  in  the  year,  if  the  E.  K.  S.  has  an  almanac  for  this 


270  MEMOIR    OF 

year  or  the  next,  or  both,  send  or  bring  them  with  you.  Mrs.  S. 
made  us  a  visit  to-day,  with  her  children,  and  all  were  well  enough 
to  receive  them.  Love  to  Dudley. 

"  Your  affectionate  father,  WM.  SPARROW. 

" Rev.  J.  A.  Jerome" 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  November  27,  1865. 
"  REV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER  : — 

"  Your  letter  was  a  great  cordial  to  my  heart.  The  older  I  grow 
the  more  I  value  my  friends;  and  now  that  my  own  proper  con- 
temporaries are  passing  away  so  fast,  I  must  cultivate  the  good  will 
of  the  next  generation,  else  I  shall  be  left  a  friendless  man  in  the 
world. 

"Since  I  came  here  I  have  been  as  busy  as  my  health  would 
allow.  Seminary  duties,  some  of  them  extra;  domestic  duties, 
specially  pressing;  and  the  duties  of  beggar-general  for  the  Institu- 
tion, something  new  to  my  experience,  all  put  together,  have  tried 
me  not  a  little.  Had  it  all  come  upon  me  in  warm  weather,  I 
should  have  broken  down.  As  things  are,  I  get  along  as  well  as  I 
could  expect.  The  last  three  months  in  the  year  have  always  been 
the  best  of  the  twelve  for  me. 

"  We  have  seven  students,  and  expect  before  New  Year's  Day 
to  have  three  more.  We  have  two  classes  in  theology,  and  a 
class  in  preparatory  studies.  They  take  as  much  time,  as  you 
know,  as  if  each  class  numbered  thirty;  while  they  do  not  afford 
the  healthful  and  invigorating  stimulus  which  relieves  and  sus- 
tains the  teacher.  Our  great  difficulty,  however,  is  to  find  means 
to  support  them,  and  to  furnish  them  rooms,  for  the  rooms  were 
left  empty  when  the  buildings  were  vacated.  Should  you  come 
across  any  moneyed  and  liberal  soul  who  would  be,  probably,  will- 
ing to  help  a  young  man  in  preparation  for  the  ministry  by  a 
scholarship  of  $200  at  his  pleasure,  you  will  render  a  great  service 
to  that  needy  young  man,  and  our  so  needy  Seminary.  Owing  to  the 
unhappy  position  of  our  diocese,  we  have  to  do  whatever  we  do  in 
this  ma'ter  in  a  private  way,  that  is,  by  private  application.  Mr. 
A.  sent  us  $500,  for  which  we  were  most  thankful.  Except  this, 
we  have  received  nothing  from  north  of  Baltimore,  which  is  fairly 
overrun  with  Southern  beggars !  But  I  did  not  mean  to  run  on  in 
this  way.  Dear  F.  was  very  sensible  of  your  kind  remembrance 
of  her,  sent  by  D. ;  and  we  feel  it  vastly  more  than  if  we  were  the 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  271 

objects  of  it.     Please  remember  me  most  kindly  to  Mrs.  H.,  whom 
I  hope  to  know  better  than  I  yet  do,  if  we  both  are  spared  so  long. 

"  Ever  affectionately  yours,  W.  SPARROW. 

"Rev.  John  P.  Hubbard" 

As  this  first  session  was  one,  in  many  respects,  very  peculiar, 
both  in  its  circumstances  and  prospects,  and  the  manner  in  which 
it  went  on,  the  account  of  it  from  some  of  those  who  were  present 
will  not  be  without  its  interest,  especially  in  its  bearing  upon  the 
subject  of  our  narrative. 

"It  would  be  difficult,"  is  the  language  of  one  of  these,  the  Rev. 
David  Barr,  "to  find  a  much  more  desolate-looking  place  than  the 
Seminary  and  its  surroundings  on  the  chilly  and  bleak  November 
evening  of  my  first  acquaintance  with  it.  It  stood  in  the  centre  of  a 
desolate  region,  in  which  a  fence  could  not  be  seen  for  miles,  except- 
ing around  a  house  here  and  there,  and  upon  which  the  sod  had  not 
been  turned,  seemingly,  for  years,  saving,  now  and-then,  a  small  patch 
or  garden.  In  striking  contrast  with  this  was  the  cordial  greeting 
given  me  by  the  good  Doctor  upon  my  arrival.  He  had  re-established 
himself  in  his  long-deserted  home,  and  was  then  working  and  pray- 
ing for  the  bright  days  soon  to  come  for  his  beloved  Seminary. 

"  I  found  five  students  present,  viz.,  Horace  E.  Hay  den,  now  in 
the  diocese  of  Pittsburg ;  James  H.  Williams,  now  rector  of  Grace 
Memorial  Church,  Lynchburg,  Virginia;  Benjamin  E.  Reed,  now 
rector  of  a  church  in  St.  Louis,  Missouri;  Edward  W.  Hubbard, 
now  rector  of  Brandon  parish,  Virginia ;  and  Nicholas  H.  Lewis, 
who  labored  in  the  ministry  but  a  few  months  in  Matthews  county, 
Virginia,  and  then  rested  from  his  labors  forever.  Dear  Lewis ! 
so  gentle,  so  earnestly  pious,  and  so  pure ! 

"  I  was  the  sixth  arrival.  In  a  few  weeks  William  H.  Laird, 
now  rector  of  Leeds  parish,  Fauquier,  arrived;  and  before  many 
weeks  had  passed  came  the  lamented  Bruce  Davis,  son  of  the  late 
blind  Bishop  of  South  Carolina,  a  young  man  of  singular  sweet- 
ness and  meekness  of  temper.  Next  came,  I  think,  George  H. 
Fitzhugh,  now  of  the  diocese  of  Easton ;  then  young  Davidson,  of 
Missouri,  who  remained  but  a  few  weeks ;  then  Thomas  U.  Dudley, 
Jr.,  now  Assistant  Bishop  of  Kentucky ;  then  Walter  Q.  Hullihen, 
now  rector  of  Trinity  Church,  Staunton;  and  lastly,  a  Mr. 
Phelps,  who  professed  to  have  been,  at  one  time,  a  Baptist  minister, 
and  had  renounced  that  persuasion  for  our  ministry.  Mr.  Phelps 


272  MEMOIR    OP 

remained  but  a  few  weeks.     I  never  heard  what  became  of  either 
him  or  Mr.  Davidson. 

"  It  would  be  impossible  to  describe  the  spirit  of  the  little  flock 
gathered  there  from  different  quarters,  and  in  connection  with 
them  the  few  returned  inhabitants  of  the  Hill,  during  that  first 
never-to-be-forgotten  year  after  the  resuscitation  of  the  Seminary. 
What  prayerful  diligence  on  the  part  of  the  students !  What 
unity,  what  love,  what  sweet  Christian  fellowship  among  all !  What 
joy  such  a  state  of  things  must  have  afforded  to  our  teachers,  espe- 
cially to  the  Doctor,  who  had,  as  it  were,  therein,  an  earnest  of  the 
future  glory  of  the  Seminary,  the  object  not  only  of  his  affections, 
but  of  his  most  ardent  wishes  and  single-minded  exertions.  And, 
considering  his  health  and  age,  what  exertions  he  made.  During 
that  first  winter  we  had  no  means  of  riding  into  Alexandria,  but 
had  to  walk  the  distance  of  three  miles,  and  at  that  time  over  a 
very  rough  road.  Mr.  Sparrow  walked  to  Alexandria  and  back, 
nearly  every  day,  for  several  weeks,  if  not  months,  and  generally 
alone.  Frequently  he  would  be  so  long  detained  in  town  as  to  be 
in  the  night  getting  home ;  and  it  was  during  these  night  trips, 
through  the  mud,  and  water,  and  snow,  finding  his  way  alone,  that, 
as  he  once  told  me,  he  underwent  no  little  suffering.  On  one  occa- 
sion he  said  he  was  detained  in  Alexandria  till  about  dark,  and  the 
weather  was  extremely  cold,  so  cold,  indeed,  as  to  render  it  neces- 
sary to  guard  against  freezing.  When  within  a  mile  of  the  Semi- 
nary, his  attention  was  attracted  by  groans,  he  could  not  tell 
whence.  After  listening  awhile,  he  called,  and  was  answered  by 
some  one  near  him.  With  some  difficulty  he  found  the  sufferer, 
who  proved  to  be  a  poor  old  negro  man,  so  nearly  frozen  as  to  be 
unable  to  walk.  The  Doctor  immediately  determined  to  get  him 
home,  or  sheltered  elsewhere,  if  possible;  and  soon  had  the  happi- 
ness of  hailing  a  passing  wagon,  upon  which  the  old  man  was 
placed,  and  taken  home.  When,  with  difficulty,  the  Doctor  himself 
reached  home,  he  found  his  own  eyelids  frozen  together.  He  had, 
in  a  great  measure,  actually  felt  his  way  home. 

"  It  was  my  privilege,  on  one  of  those  cold  evenings,  to  accom- 
pany him  from  Alexandria  to  the  Seminary.  He  made  the  tune 
pass  rapidly  by  his  conversation,  mingled  with  anecdote,  always 
pointed  and  appropriate.  As  we  walked  up  the  avenue  in  the 
front  of  the  Seminary,  he  turned  to  me  and  said,  in  his  genial 
manner,  '  Well,  Mr.  B.,  I  am  reminded  of  an  anecdote  I  once  heard 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  273 

of  a  couple  of  Irishmen.  The  first  of  them,  arriving  in  America, 
settled  down  near  some  great  natural  curiosity.  When  his  friend 
arrived,  he  proposed  that  they  should  make  this  curiosity  a  visit. 
'How  far  is  it,  thin?'  'Twinty  miles!'  was  the  answer.  'Och, 
mon,  it's  too  far.'  '  No,'  said  Pat,  '  there  are  two  of  us,  and 
we'll  make  it  tin  apiece!'  'Now,'  continued  the  Doctor,  'your 
young  eyes  have  enabled  us,  as  it  were,  to  shorten  the  distance 
from  town,  and  make  it  one  and  a  half  apiece.'  On  another  oc- 
casion, he,  one  of  our  clergy  and  myself,  came  over  the  same  road 
together.  Among  other  topics  was  that  of  exercise,  the  Doctor 
remarking  upon  the  difficulty  of  taking  just  enough,  neither  too 
much  nor  too  little.  'This  subject  we  are  upon/  said  he,  ' reminds 
me  of  an  anecdote  that  Bishop  Chase  used  to  tell  with  great  gusto. 
Some  years  ago,  the  Legislature  of  Vermont  had  under  discus- 
sion the  charter  of  a  railroad.  Some  wanted  it  to  run  through 
one  township,  and  some  through  another.  Finally,  a  green  Irish- 
man, from  one  of  the  back  counties,  jumped  to  his  feet,  and  cried, 
'Misther  Prisident,  when  I  studied  Vargil,  I  was  taught  to  go 
through  nather  Cyrus  nor  Carabozus,  but  between  the  two.  So  I 
now  say,  sir,  let  the  road  go  nather  through  this  nor  that  town- 
ship, but  between  the  two.'  Take  the  middle  extreme !' 

"  As  to  the  work  of  the  Seminary,  the  theological  classes,  at  his 
lectures,  recited,  at  first,  if  I  rightly  remember,  in  either  Dr.  Spar- 
row's study  or  in  one  of  the  students'  rooms.  Perhaps  they  did 
so  the  whole  of  the  session.  Dr.  Packard's  classes  recited  either 
in  his  study  or  in  the  Prayer  Hall.  The  preparatory  classes  in 
Greek  and  the  sciences  recited  to  Dr.  Sparrow  in  his  study.  Hia 
fondness  for  Greek  made  him  a  pains-taking  teacher  in  it,  and  he 
was  so  instructive  a  teacher,  that  things  which  others  might  con- 
sider dry  were  invested  by  him  with  interest  and  freshness.  I 
think  of  those  '  Greek  days '  with  Dr.  Sparrow  in  his  study  as 
among  the  most  pleasant  and  instructive  spent  at  the  Seminary. 
It  was  after  one  of  those  hours  that  a  fellow-student  remarked  that 
Dr.  Sparrow  went  more  naturally  to  prayer  than  any  one  he  ever 
knew.  He  seemed  so  completely  lost,  in  a  moment,  to  all  around 
him,  and  in  such  close,  childlike  and  loving  communion  with  God  as 
his  Father. 

"The  Faculty  meetings  were  not  restored  at  once;  not,  indeed,  I 
think,  until  toward  the  end  of  the  session.     Lewis  had  been  there 
before  the  Seminary  closed  in  1861,  and  retained  sweetest  imprea- 
18 


274  MEMOIR    OF 

siona  of  the  Faculty  meetings  in  which  the  lowly-minded  Dr.  May 
participated,  and  he  aroused  my  desires  for  their  speedy  beginning. 
Upon  their  revival  I  found  that  the  half  had  not  been  told  me 
concerning  them.  The  remembrance  of  them  is  refreshing  and 
edifying.  In  them  Dr.  Sparrow  was  a  spiritual  and  intellectual 
power;  so  that  the  heart  was  indifferent  that  was  not  then  roused 
and  made  more  earnest  by  his  appeals  and  exhortations.  His 
closing  prayers  were  as  sweetest  manna,  for  he  seemed  to  carry  us 
with  him,  and  besiege  the  mercy-seat  for  grace  and  blessing. 

"  During  the  first  half  of  the  session  we  used  one  of  the  second- 
story  rooms  in  Aspinwall  Hall  as  our  dining-room,  our  number 
being  too  small  and  our  arrangements  too  simple  to  require 
so  large  a  room  as  the  dining-room  under  Bohlen  Hall.  We 
messed,  as  it  is  called,  each  man  paying  about  twelve  dollars  and  a 
half  a  month,  and  had  one  of  our  number  as  caterer.  In  the  early 
spring  of  1866  we  were  favored  with  the  services  of  Miss  Jones  as 
our  matron,  a  change  for  the  better  decidedly,  in  many  respects ; 
and  this  change  was  followed  by  our  removal  to  the  dining-room 
under  Bohlen  Hall. 

"We  were  scattered,  as  regarded  our  accommodations,  in 
the  three  principal  halls,  Aspinwall,  Meade,  and  Bohlen, 
one  or  more  sleeping  in  each.  Aspinwall  was  principally 
occupied,  however,  as  affording  better  rooms  and  rendering 
things  more  cheerful  and  home-like.  Prayer  Hall  was  used 
for  public  services  till  the  early  spring  of  1866,  I  think,  the  chapel 
being  out  of  repairs,  perhaps,  and  certainly  very  cold  and  without 
stoves.  And  as  those  were  days  of  poverty,  we  used  what  we  had. 

"I  never  heard  the  Doctor  allude  to  his  affliction  in  the  loss  of 
Mrs.  Jerome.  But  I  know  that  the  God  whom  he  served  in  his 
heart  of  hearts  caused  His  consolation  to  abound  toward  His  servant, 
yes,  even  over  all  his  sorrow.  Yes !  A  man  of  heavy  afflictions, 
he  was,  also,  one  of  much  consolation." 

"Never,"  says  another  student  of  this  session,  "never  before  I 
heard  Dr.  Sparrow  was  I  able  to  listen  to  a  discourse  so  attentively 
as  to  remember  the  entire  substance  of  it.  But  some  of  his 
Faculty-meeting  lectures  have  so  burned  themselves  into  my  brain, 
that  I  have  gone  to  my  room  and  have  written  them  down  from 
my  notes,  without,  I  am  sure,  losing  a  word.  Poor  P.,  whom  I 
knew  well,  said  to  me,  shortly  before  his  death,  that  he  had  gone  to 
the  Seminary  to  enter  the  ministry  simply  as  a  profession  in  which 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  275 

he  thought  he  could  excel ;  but  that  Dr.  Sparrow,  in  the  Faculty 
meeting,  had  spoken  words  that  revealed  to  him  his  condition  as  a 
sinner,  and  that  to  these  lectures  he  owed,  under  God,  his  conversion. 
After  that  I  know  he  entered  the  ministry  to  win  souls,  and  it  was 
in  doing  this  he  met  his  death. 

"One  little  note  of  the  Doctor,  as  a  memento  of  that  session,  is  by 
me.  It  is  connected  with  the  boarding  establishment.  Fortunately 
for  us,  while  messing,  during  the  first  few  months  of  the  session,  all 
had  been  in  the  army  and  knew  how  to  endure  hardness.  Our  fare 
for  some  weeks  was  very  little  better  than  the  rations  we  had 
received  in  the  field.  We  discovered,  after  a  time,  that  the  cook 
boiled  the  potatoes  in  the  coffee-pot,  and  made  the  coffee  afterward. 
The  peculiar  flavor  thus  imparted  to  the  coffee  led  to  the  discovery, 
and  caused  a  change  in  our  household  arrangements.  The 
butcher  failed  one  day  to  bring  out  our  supply,  and  we  sent  to 
borrow  from  the  Doctor.  The  answer  was  as  follows :  '  Dear  Mr. 
H.  It  just  now  occurred  to  me  to  ask  Mrs.  S.  if  she  had  any  fresh 
beef.  Her  reply  was,  'Yes,  but  it  is  in  the  oven  for  to-morrow.' 
She  sends  some  of  it  '  with  the  smell  of  fire  on  its  skirts/  hoping  it 
may,  nevertheless,  answer.' 

"  He  once  told  me  of  his  advice  to  a  young  friend,  in  whom  he  felt 
a  deep  interest,  on  the  eve  of  her  marriage.  'Doctor/  was  her 
request,  '  you  know  that  I  am  soon  to  be  married ;  won't  you  give 
me  some  good  advice  about  my  new  life ? '  'I  replied,  I  have  only 
one  piece  of  advice  to  give  you,  and  that  is,  keep  alive  the  spiritu- 
ality of  your  husband ;  and  I  believe  she  did  so/  he  added." 

At  the  Council,  a  short  time  before  the  close  of  this  first  session, 
it  was  determined  by  the  Board  of  Trustees  that  an  appeal  should 
be  made  to  the  friends  of  the  Seminary,  to  enable  it  to  go  on,  espe- 
cially in  view  of  the  needed  support  for  the  new  professorship.  Dr. 
Sparrow  was  appointed  and  requested  to  make  this  appeal,  and,  in 
accordance  with  this  action,  visited  Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  and 
New  York,  on  his  mission.  His  effort  to  raise  $5000,  for  five 
years,  to  be  paid  in  annual  installments,  proved  successful,  and  he 
returned  home  greatly  cheered.  A  second  short  visit  perfected  his 
work,  and  he  began  to  prepare  for  the  work  of  the  ensuing  session. 
A  couple  of  letters,  one  written  while  upon  his  errand,  and  another 
very  soon  after  his  return  home,  describe,  among  other  things,  a  part 
of  his  experience  while  his  work  was  going  on,  and  show  his  gratifi- 
cation in  view  of  the  manner  in  which  his  appeal  met  reception. 


276  MEMOIR    OF 

"No.  3  BIBLE  HOUSE,  NEW  YORK,  August,  1866. 
"  MY  DEAR  MR.  LEE  : — 

"I  have  longed  to  write  you,  because  I  know  you  were  anxious 
to  hear  from  me,  sympathizing  with  me  and  my  errand.  I  have 
been  silent  only  because  I  feared  to  say  anything,  lest  there  be 
utter  disappointment,  but  I  now  write  in  good  hope.  A  more  un- 
fortunate time  I  could  not  have  chosen  for  my  trip.  Everybody  is 
from  home.  In  addition  to  the  bareness  of  the  field,  comes  the 
pressing  demand  occasioned  by  the  Portland  fire.  Lastly,  and 
chief,  there  stood  up  before  me  the  Council  speeches.*  Still,  I  am 
confident  I  can  raise  the  salary.  Indeed,  I  am  determined  to  try 
for  $2000,  instead  of  $1500.  Yesterday  I  met  Mr. ,  and  be- 
fore we  parted  he  pledged  $250  per  annum  for  five  years.  It  may 
be  that  I  shall  get  as  much  from  a  couple  of  other  gentlemen  of 
this  city.  Besides  the  necessary  annual  subscriptions  to  make  up 
the  salary,  it  may  be  that  I  shall  get  a  little  something  for  the 
endowment.  Some  may  give  out  and  out  who  will  not  pledge  them- 
selves ahead.  You  see  I  speak  cautiously,  because  I  am  nervously 
timid.  Still,  I  can  say  to  you  with  confidence,  the  salary  will  be 
made  up.  It  takes  time,  and  it  is  very  trying  to  the  patience,  but 
I  am  prepared  for  anything  that  will  secure  the  end. 

"  I  am  confident  I  can  get  $350  a  year  in  Baltimore,  as  much  in 
Philadelphia,  more  here,  with  subscriptions  of  $100  in  scattered 
parishes.  Dr.  Dyer  has  taken  a  great  interest  in  our  affairs.  We 
are  under  great  obligations  to  him. 

"I  find  I  have  to  move  very  slowly,  or  I  am  made  sick.  I  was 
very  unwell  in  Baltimore,  from  over  exertion,  but  am  determined 
to  be  more  moderate  in  my  movements  in  future.  The  very  noise 
and  confusion  of  this  city  break  me  down.  It  is  well  called  '  Babel.' 

"  I  ought  to  say  that  Mr.  received  me  very  kindly,  but 

seemed  fixed  in  his  purpose  of  lending  us  no  further  aid.  However, 
he  said,  as  warden  of -his  congregation,  he  would  favor  an  annual 
subscription  of  $100  for  five  years.  Perhaps  it  may  be  increased. 
Before  parish  pledges  can  be  secured,  the  rector  and  wardens,  if 
not  the  vestry,  must  come  together,  but  such  meetings  are  now 
impossible.  I  can  meet  the  one  or  the  other,  but  not  both  together. 

Dr. was  manifestly  ready,  but  he  must  first  talk  with  his 

wardens.     So  others. 

*  In  the  discussion  as  to  whether  the  Diocese  of  Virginia  should  resunxe  its  former 
relations  to  the  General  Convention. 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  277 

"  Excuse  this  scrawl.  I  am  so  nervous  I  can  hardly  hold  my 
pen,  and  my  head  is  as  unsteady — not  with  strong  drink — as  my  hand. 
But  these  are  small  matters,  if  the  Lord  will  be  pleased  to  prosper 
us,  and  put  the  Seminary  on  its  feet  again,  and  in  a  sphere-  of  use- 
fulness. 

"Please  remember  me  kindly  to  Mrs.  L.,  and  believe  me 

"Ever  yours,  WM.  SPARROW. 

"  C.  F.  L." 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  P.  O.r  September  2,  1866. 
"  MY  DEAR  BROTHER: — 

"Last  night  I  got  your  letter.  Let  me  assure  you  it  afforded  me 
great  pleasure.  I  am  thankful  to  God  that  you  are  so  blessed  in 
your  work,  and  that  amidst  all  your  health  has  been  preserved  to 
you.  May  the  same  Divine  blessing  rest  upon  your  person  and  your 
labors,  even  to  the  end. 

"  Doubtless,  nominally,  there  ought  to  be  more  sponsors  than  one, 
and  these  sponsors  ought  to  be  communicants.  The  former  regula- 
tion seems  to  have  sprung  ex  abundante  cautela ;  and  the  latter  out 
of  the  manifest  propriety  of  the  case,  and  the  spirit  of  the  service 
in  regard  to  the  sponsorial  feature.  But  neither  is  of  Divine 
prescription,  and  the  time  was,  I  think  until  the  eighth  century, 
when  no  more  than  one  was  required,  and  that  might  be  a  woman, 
in  the  case  of  a  male  or  female  child  alike.  But,  doubtless,  in 
all  ages,  the  norm  of  the  case  had  to  yield  to  necessity;  that,  in  a 
matter  of  this  kind,  has  no  law.  The  Bishops  of  our  Church  have 
never  called  the  clergy  to  account  for  accommodating  themselves  to 
a  necessity  which  is  real.  To  my  mind,  it  is  a  great  deal  better  to 
acknowledge  the  necessity,  and  yield  to  it,  than  resort  to  private 
baptism.  That  would  be  violating  the  spirit  of  the  one  service,  that 
we  may  not  violate  the  other.  For  though  the  word  expedient  is 
used  about  bringing  the  child  privately  baptized  to  the  church,  so 
is  the  word  exigence,  some  other  than  a  want  of  proper  sponsors, 
used  as  the  proper  ground  of  private  baptism  in  any  case.  I  have 
spoken  of  our  Bishops.  The  English  Bishops  also  openly  sanction 
such  views.  Archbishop  Whateley,  I  remember,  in  one  of  his  very 
last  charges,  when  he  had  become  an  authority  in  the  British 
Church,  says,  'Ministers  are  bound  to  do  the  best  they  can  toward 
complying  with  the  prescriptions  of  the  Church,  in  every  way 
guarding  against  the  thoughtless  carelessness  and  the  irregularities 


278  MEMOIR    OF 

which  are  apt  to  find  their  way  into  the  administration  of  this  holy 
ordinance.'  As  to  the  case  you  propose,  of  the  pious,  professing 
mother  who  wishes  to  bring  her  child  to  baptism,  /  should  have 
no  difficulty  about  it.  If  she  can  get  a  second  sponsor,  well ;  if  not, 
in  the  name  of  Him  who  '  suffers  little  children  to  come '  (children 
brought  each  one  by  its  mother),  let  her  child  be  dedicated  to  God 
in  that  sacred  rite.  The  main  point  is,  where  necessity  compels  us 
to  depart  from  the  usual  order  of  procedure,  to  take  care  to  show, 
as  you  are  prepared  to  do,  that  the  departure  does  not  grow  out  of 
any  superstitious  opere  operate  notions  of  the  ordinance,  but  that 
we  deem  it  profitless  unless  accompanied  with  religious  training. 

"  Let  me  correct  a  mistake.  You  draw  an  inference  from  the 
words,  'wilt  thou  be  baptized  in  this  faith/  as  to  what  the  sponsor 
may  be.  It  strikes  me  these  questions  indicate  nothing  in  regard 
to  the  religious  condition  of  the  sponsor,  one  way  or  the  other.  He 
merely  answers  for  the  child  because  it  cannot  answer  for  itself.  It 
is  a  kind  of  legal  fiction.  He  thereby  indicates  no  character, 
assumes  no  responsibility;  that  is  done  by  his  standing  and  receiv- 
ing the  charge  that  he  see  the  little  one  religiously  brought  up. 
Though  it  should  afterward  turn  infidel,  he  is  clear  if  he  has  seen 
that  it  was  brought  up  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord. 

"You  ask  after  some  book  on  the  subject.  Libraries  have  been 
written,  chiefly  controversial,  each  writer  looking  at  it  in  one  or 
two  points  of  view ;  hence  no  one,  or  two,  or  three  books,  do  it  full 
justice.  I  suppose  you  can  learn  more  of  the  subject  from  Goode 
than  any  one  author.  You  can  get  it  almost  anywhere.  You 
inquire  about  my  'Rationale.'  Are  you  not  confounding 
two  things  that  are  very  different;  a  bishop  and  a  presbyter; 
a  man  of  the  Seventeenth  century  and  a  man  of  the  Nine- 
teenth; a  High-Churchman  and  a  thorough-paced  Low-Church- 
man? The  'Rationale'  which  I  suppose  you  refer  to  was  on 
the  whole  Prayer-book,  a  small  work  by  Bishop  Sparrow,  who 
was  concerned  in  the  last  revision  of  the  English  Liturgy,  in 
Charles  n's  time.  Is  it  possible  you  have  so  poor  an  opinion  of  my 
discretion  as  to  suppose  I  ever  published  a  book  ?  I  have  been  so 
far  guilty  of  folly  as  to  publish  a  pamphlet  or  two ;  this  I  confess, 
and  can  only  plead  human  infirmity ;  but  a  book ! 

"  You  ask  after  my  success  at  the  North.  The  time  was  most 
unpropitious ;  nobody  was  at  home,  and  I  left  my  task  unfinished. 
But  still  I  had  such  success,  that  on  the  strength  of  it  Dr.  Walker 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,    D.  D.  279 

is  coming.  I  go  North  again  this  month  or  the  next.  I  was 
treated  most  kindly.  The  alumni  of  the  Institution  have  shown 
the  very  best  feelings.  I  was  received  by  them  with  open  arms. 
But  one,  in  a  situation  to  help,  declined.  There  may  be  much 
Christian  character  under  the  repulsive  disguise  of  political  and 
military  hostility  both  North  and  South.  A  man  may  be  a  Chris- 
tian, yea,  a  lovely  Christian,  though  a  Monarchist,  an  Oligarchist, 
or  a  Democrat,  and  though  ready  to  go  to  the  extreme  of  blood 
for  the  maintenance  of  his  principles.  This  the  world's  history 
shows.  It  comes  of  our  fallen  state  that  there  should  be  such 
anomalies  and  contradictions  among  us.  What  is  the  part  and 
duty  of  one  who  belongs  to  the  kingdom  which  is  not  of  this  world, 
is  a  nice  question  in  some  respects.  One  point  is  certain,  it  is  not 
for  the  followers  of  the  Prince  of  peace,  at  least  after  the  sword  is 
laid  down,  to  throw  oil  upon  the  fire,  but  rather  water. 

"  Assuring  you  I  shall  always  be  glad  to  hear  from  you,  I  am, 
"  Most  affectionately  yours,  W.  S. 

11  Rev.  Randolph  H.  McKim." 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  October  4,  1866. 
"  MY  DEAR  J.  :— 

"  It  was  my  purpose,  when  I  left  home  the  last  time,  to  make  you 
a  visit  before  my  return;  but  circumstances  compelled  me  to 
change  my  plans,  and  to  be  back  at  the  opening  of  the  term.  It 
has  just  begun,  with  twenty-one  students,  all  theologicals  but  four. 
This,  you  will  say,  is  doing  well.  I  have  been  busy  all  the  summer 
in  raising  money  to  support  the  professors.  It  is  not  the  new  Pro- 
fessor only  that  has  to  be  maintained.  The  Trustees,  at  present, 
have  enough  only  to  support  one.  I  have  done  nothing  in  Phila- 
delphia yet,  but  hope  for  something  from  Brooks,  Parven,  and  Mat- 
lack,  and  the  gentlemen  whom  they  control.  Of  course  it  won't  be 
much.  Besides  salaries  for  the  professors,  we  need  means  to  repair 
roofs,  etc.,  and  to  support  indigent  young  men.  But  I  trust  the 
Lord  will  provide. 

"  My  trips  North  have  increased  my  anxiety  for  the  prosperity 
of  this,  and  of  every  other  Evangelical  Institution.  Ritualism 
seems  to  be  sweeping  over  the  Church.  Not  that  I  care  so  much 
about  forms,  and  gestures,  and  garments,  etc.;  it  is  the  principles 
out  of  which  these  things  grow,  and  which  are,  under  their  cover, 
gradually  introduced,  that  trouble  me.  The  Bishop  is  in  i 


280  MEMOIR    OF 

York  now,  helping  in  the  consecration  and  election.     I  am  curious 
to  know  how  things  will  strike  him. 

"  Do  write  soon,  and  tell  me  all  about  yourself,  and  the  children, 
and  your  parish.  Be  assured  of  the  tenderest  love  of  all  under 
this  roof. 

"Affectionately,  W.  SPARROW. 

"Rev.  J.  A.  Jerome." 

As  had  been  anticipated,  the  number  of  students  at  the  opening 
of  the  session,  1866-7,  was  found  to  have  increased  upon  that  of 
the  previous  year,  and  before  the  close  of  the  session  ran  up  to 
twenty-five.  One  of  the  recitation  rooms  was  furnished,  and  from 
this  time  the  classes  met  in  that,  and  in  the  Prayer  Hall.  The 
arrangement  of  studies,  as  in  the  time  of  Dr.  May  before  the  war, 
was  resumed ;  Dr.  Sparrow  taking  his  former  course  of  Evidences, 
Systematic  Divinity,  and  Creeds  and  Confessions.  Monthly  mis- 
sionary meetings  were  re-established,  and  the  students  vigorously 
resumed  operations  at  the  various  mission  stations  in  the  country 
around ;  and  as  most  of  the  chapels  had  been  destroyed  or  burned, 
their  first  effort  was  to  rebuild  them.  The  extra  work  of  the 
preparatory  classes,  for  the  first  third  of  the  session,  was  divided 
among  the  professors;  after  this  other  arrangements  were  made. 
The  material  of  this  session  was  remarkably  homogeneous,  socially 
and  ecclesiastically,  and  there  was  very  little  of  a  stirring  charac- 
ter in  the  way  of  ecclesiastical  discussion.  In  truth,  the  angry 
waves  of  another  and  more  fearful  controversy  had  not  yet  entirely 
subsided;  and  the  feelings  of  anxiety  and  uncertainty  as  to  many 
of  its  results,  kept  out  of  sight  issues  which  in  other  parts  of  the 
Church  were  more  earnestly  contested.  The  Ritualistic  controversy, 
for  instance,  becoming  of  interest  and  importance  elsewhere,  was 
only,  in  the  diocese  and  Seminary  of  Virginia,  looked  at  as  from  a 
distance.  The  session,  therefore,  partaking,  in  many  respects,  of  the 
characteristics  of  the  one  preceding,  was  passed  in  great  harmony 
and  satisfaction. 

One  portion  of  Dr.  Sparrow's  work  for  this  session,  and,  indeed, 
for  the  next  four  or  five  years,  needs  here  distinctly  to  be  presented, 
that  of  keeping  up  pecuniary  supplies  for  the  Seminary.  Under 
God  its  continued  existence  depended  very  largely  upon  those 
efforts.  These  were  twofold :  first,  to  keep  himself  in  communica- 
tion with  the  contributors  to  the  $5000  fund  for  five  years,  remind- 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,    D.  D.  281 

ing  them  of  the  time  when  installments  were  needed ;  secondly,  in 
any  case  where  these  failed,  through  death  of  the  contributor,  or 
from  other  causes,  to  find  a  supply  to  the  deficiency,  and  then,  fur- 
ther, to  seek  new  contributions.  How  much  depended  upon  him 
in  these  respects  will  be  made  manifest  by  a  single  fact.  The  first 
contribution  of  the  $5000  was  all  paid  for  the  five  years,  and  there 
was  an  overplus.  A  second  contribution  of  the  same  nature,  to 
the  extent  of  $7000  or  $8000,  pledged  during  the  last  few  weeks  of 
his  life,  has  not,  to  more  than  about  one-fourth  of  its  amount,  been 
realized.  Other  reasons,  and  good  ones,  may  be  given  for  this  dif- 
ference. But  one,  and  a  most  important  reason  for  that  difference, 
was  the  fact  of  his  lamented  departure.  His  relations  to  the  two 
classes  of  sectional  feeling  were  unique  and  peculiar,  and  as  they 
bear  upon  his  work  for  the  Seminary,  a  work  which  no  other  man, 
at  that  time,  could  have  performed,  it  will  not  be  out  of  place  to 
exhibit  them.  His  sympathies  and  affections  were  deeply  enlisted 
for  the  community  in  which  his  lot  was  cast.  He  had,  also,  affec- 
tionate relations  with  many  of  those  with  whom  they  were  in  con- 
flict. He  believed,  moreover,  that  both  of  them  were  largely 
blamable;  one  for  making  no  effort,  by  prospective  legislation  or 
otherwise,  to  get  rid  of  a  social  and  moral  evil,  the  irritating  cause 
of  much  of  the  trouble ;  the  other,  for  the  resort  to  violence  when 
the  moral  influences  of  truth  and  reason  were  the  only  proper 
weapons.  But  these  views  were  held  without  sectional  feeling, 
and  without  bitterness ;  because,  although  born  in  this  country,  he 
was  not  an  American.  He  never  knew,  and  could  not  be  made  to 
understand,  how  an  American,  on  either  side,  say  like  Bishop 
Meade  in  one  section  and  Bishop  Mcllvaine  in  the  other,  felt  in 
this  great  contest.  The  associations,  and  impressions,  and  agencies, 
and  influences  of  his  life,  up  to  his  seventeenth  year,  would  seem 
to  have  rendered  this  impossible.  As  to  the  question  which  of  the 
two  parties  was  more  in  the  right  or  the  wrong,  he  put  it  aside, 
refused  to  entertain  it.  Whether,  under  the  circumstances,  that 
issue  ought  not  have  been  resolutely  faced  and  decided,  is  another 
question ;  which  would,  probably,  by  both  parties  in  the  case,  be 
answered  in  the  affirmative.  Without  going  into  any  such  ques- 
tion, it  is  sufficient,  for  our  purpose,  to  recognize  how,  from  this  his 
peculiar  position,  he  was  able  to  exercise  the  influence  which  he 
did  in  both  directions.  He  loved  both  parties ;  was  beloved  and 
respected  by  both  in  return.  His  whole  effort  and  desire,  there- 


282  MEMOIR    OP 

fore,  when  the  war  ended,  was  to  reconcile  them  fully;  to  work 
through  such  reconciliation  for  the  great  objects  to  which  his  life 
was  devoted. 

Returning  to  this  work,  in  its  specific  form,  as  it  went  on  in  the 
duties  of  the  Seminary,  it,  of  course,  found  but  little' variation  from 
that  of  previous  sessions.  There  would  necessarily  be  the  adapta- 
tion of  the  material  of  his  instruction  to  the  peculiar  aspects  of 
contending  truth  and  error,  as  established  in  the  prevalent  current 
of  theological  or  ecclesiastical  opinion.  As  already  hinted,  the 
pressure  from  other  sources  had  kept  from  view  some  of  the  forms 
of  controversy  elsewhere  becoming  very  prominent.  With  one 
feature  of  the  existing  state  of  religious  controversy  he  at  that 
time  expressed  great  gratification,  the  manifest  fact  that  Christian- 
ity, whether  as  defended  or  attacked,  perhaps  most  clearly  shown 
as  attacked,  occupied  so  large  a  share  of  the  thought  and  heart 
of  cultivated  men.  This  opinion  was  especially  called  forth  in 
connection  with  his  perusal  of  Ecce  Homo,  and  in  it  he  saw  an 
augury  of  good.  He  was  persuaded  that  if  men  could  be  induced 
seriously  and  earnestly  to  discuss  the  problems  of  Scripture,  and 
of  Christian  truth,  their  discussions  would  eventually  be  productive 
of  benefit.  And  as  a  favorable  indication,  he  gratefully  recognized 
the  improvement  in  the  tone  of  infidel  writers  upon  those  of  an 
earlier  period. 

Very  soon  after  this  session  opened,  the  following  letter  was 
written.  It  was  called  forth  by  the  sudden  death,  by  violence,  of  a 
friend,  with  whom,  as  a  fellow-refugee,  he  had  passed  through  the 
trials  of  the  war,  at  Staunton,  and  was  addressed  to  his  sorrowing 
companion : — 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  NEAR  ALEXANDRIA,  VA., 

"  October  13,  1866. 
"  MY  DEAR  FRIEND  : — 

"It  is  with  a  distress  I  cannot  express  that  I  have  just  heard  of 
the  terrible  calamity  which  has  fallen  upon  you.  My  first  impulse 
was  to  take  my  pen.  But  wherefore?  Why  intrude  upon  the 
sacredness  of  your  grief,  while  your  heart  is  bleeding  so  profusely  ? 
This  is  not  the  time  for  the  ordinary  attentions  of  friendship,  nor 
for  ordinary  sympathy  of  merely  human  kind.  Such  things  seem 
only  to  mock  a  sorrow  so  deep  as  yours.  Even  though  I  might 
be  well  incited  to  write,  by  the  recollection  of  our  intercourse 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,    D.  D.  283 

in  Staunton,  and  of  the  substantial  kindness  of  your  departed  hus- 
band to  me  and  my  family,  from  the  day  he  came  to  Augusta 
County  till  the  very  day  he  left  it,  still  it  is  only  as  a  Christian 
friend  I  presume  to  send  these  lines.  In  God's  name,  as  a  minister 
of  Christ,  I  would  fain  offer  consolation,  not  by  speaking  of  my 
feelings  of  friendship  and  sympathy,  but  by  turning  your  thoughts 
to  Him  whose  friendship  was  tested  unto  death,  and  whose  sympa- 
thy is  not,  as  that  of  mortals,  inefficient,  however  sincere,  but  is 
mighty  through  God.  With  Him  is  strong  consolation.  Let  His 
word  be  implicitly  taken,  when  He  says :  '  Come  unto  me  all  ye 
that  are  weary  and  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest'  He  is 
the  Great,  the  Infallible  Physician  of  the  Spirit,  and  can  staunch 
and  heal  every  wound,  however  deep.  His  word  is  with  power. 
His  grace  is  sufficient  for  every  emergency,  even  yours.  'Cast 
your  care  upon  Him;  He  careth  for  you.'  We  are  already  assured 
of  His  interest  in  us ;  only  He  would  have  us  make  trial  of  His 
love.  Take  occasion  from  this  dark  and  mysterious  Providence  to 
go  to  your  Saviour  as  you  never  went  before;  submitting  every- 
thing into  His  hands,  and  desiring  to  know  no  law  of  life,  or  pur- 
pose, or  feeling,  but  His  gracious  will,  and  you  will  prove,  in  your 
own  personal  experience,  that  all  His  promises  are  yea  and  amen, 
and  that 


'  Behind  a  frowning  Providence 
He  hides  a  smiling  face.' 


It  may  tax  our  faith  to  believe  this ;    but — '  Lord,  we  believe ; 
help  Thou  our  unbelief.' 

"My  dear  Madam,  it  might,  perhaps,  almost  seem  as  if  I  could 
not  talk  thus  if  I  really  felt  the  greatness  of  your  calamity.  But 
the  more  I  think  upon  it,  the  more  it  grows  upon  me.  My  heart 
sinks  within  me  when  I  think  of  the  widow  and  the  orphan  child- 
ren, the  cause  that  made  them  such,  and  the  consequences  which 
may  follow  the  bereavement.  And  it  is  because  of  my  thorough 
conviction  that  this  affliction  is,  in  many  respects,  above  the  com- 
mon lot,  that  I  thus  forego  all  earthly  considerations,  and  would 
turn  your  heart  heavenward.  Mortals  cannot  help  you,  but  God 
can,  and  God  will.  Was  He  not  in  Christ,  and  did  not  Christ  go 
about  doing  good,  delighting  especially  to  visit  the  house  of  mourn- 
ing ?  May  His  presence  be  with  you  and  your  family ; '  and  dark 


MEMOIR    OP 

as  this  dispensation  is,  may  the  time  soon  come  when  you  will  see 
it  all  in  the  clear  light  of  His  everlasting  love. 

"  Of  course  I  expect  no  response  to  this.  It  would  be  wrong  in 
me  to  do  so.  I  write  that  you  may  gather  from  my  letter  that 
there  are  many  Christian  friends,  afar  off,  who  are  thinking  of  you, 
and  praying  for  you. 

"  Affectionately  your  servant  in  Christ,. 

"•WILLIAM  SPARROW." 

During  the  spring  of  1867,  and  toward  the  close  of  the  session, 
Dr.  Sparrow  had  an  opportunity  of  again,  visiting  Staunton,  and 
taking  part  in  the  election  of  the  Assistant  Bishop,  held  at  the 
Council  in  that  place.  In  this  election  he  felt  the  deepest  interest ; 
and  while  recognizing  the  qualifications  of  the  other  candidates, 
especially  those  of  that  eminent  man  who  was  elected  by  the  clergy, 
and  who  has  just  passed  away  from  us,  Dr.  Andrews,  his  judg- 
ment and  his  preferences  were  decidedly  in  favor  of  the  candidate 
actually  elected.  One  little  incident  of  this  election  may  be  noted ; 
it  was  the  last  appearance  and  the  last  ecclesiastical  action  of  Dr. 
Sparrow's  old  colleague  in  the  Seminary,  Professor  Lippitt.  As 
one  of  the  oldest  clergy  of  the  dioceser  he  made  one  of  the  first 
nominations,  that  which  eventually  received  the  vote  of  the  ma- 
jority. 

" '  Has  it  occurred  to  you,'  said  the  Doctor,  leaning  back,  with  a 
comical  expression,  and  in  a  half  whisper,"  writes  a  lay  delegate, 
who  sat  behind  him  as  the  election  was  going  on,  " '  has  it  occurred 
to  you  how  many  here  are  speaking,  and  will  vote  presently,  for  only 
their  second  choice?'  Seeing  my  slowness  in  taking,  he  added, 
with  a  twinkle,  '  modesty  forbids  their  bringing  forward  their 
first.' " 

At  the  close  of  the  previous  session  there  had  been  no  graduating 
class,  and,  of  course,  very  little  in  the  way  of  exercises  of  com- 
mencement. With  this  of  1866-7,  the  old  order  was  resumed. 
The  essays  were  read  by  the  senior  class;,  the  ordinary  address  by 
one  of  the  Faculty;  and  the  address  and  delivery  of  diplomas  by 
the  Bishop.  A  catalogue  of  the  Seminary,,  the  first  since  1860-1, 
had  been  gotten  out  during  the  session,,  and  the  prospect,  in  various 
respects,  was  exceedingly  favorable,,  that,  in  due  time,  the  Semi- 
nary would  be  going  forward  in  full  and  successful  operation. 

Part  of-  the  vacation  was  spent  in  a  visit  to  the  West,  in  a  visit, 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,    D.  D.  285 

among  others,  to  his  old  friend  and  colleague,  then  residing  in 
Pittsburg,  Dr.  Preston.  This  friendship  went  back  to  those  early 
days  at  Worthington  and  Gambier,  when  they  worked  and  coun- 
seled together,  and  it  only  terminated,  or  was,  rather,  for  a  short 
time  suspended,  by  the  death  of  Dr.  Sparrow.  In  the  earlier  part 
of  this  volume  extracts  from  letters  of  Dr.  Preston,  as  to  his  departed 
friend  and  associate,  will  be  found.  In  a  very  little  time,  however, 
his  own  departure  came;  and  we  may  now  think  of  the  sanctified 
friendship  of  almost  half  a  century,  as  blessed  with  endless  renewal. 
With  the  next  two  sessions,  those  of  1867-8  and  1868-9,  the 
agitation  of  the  Ritualistic  controversy  went  on,  and,  of  course, 
made  itself  felt  in  the  theological  community  of  the  Seminary. 
This  controversy  demanded  and  received  from  Dr.  Sparrow  his 
deepest  attention.  He  felt  himself,  and  he  felt  that  the  Institution 
with  which  he  was  connected  was,  pledged  to  the  principles  and 
views  of  evangelical  truth  for  the  support  of  which  it  had  been 
originally  established.  A  departure  from  these  principles  he  re- 
garded as  not  only  a  departure  from  the  truth,  and  a  sacrifice  of 
that  truth,  but  as  a  departure  from  the  object  for  which  the  Semi- 
nary had  been  established  and  supported ;  as,  therefore,  involving 
a  fraudulent  misappropriation  of  sacred  funds  from  the  specific  pur- 
pose for  which  they  were  given.  "Our  flag,"  said  he,  in  speaking 
of  the  possibility  of  the  extensive  prevalence  of  a  different  class  of 
views — not  as  extreme  as  those  of  the  Ritualists,  but  those  in  oppo- 
sition to  which  the  Seminary  was  founded,  of  the  school  of  Sea- 
bury  and  Hobart — "our  flag  is  nailed  to  the  mast;  and  if  it  goes 
down,  we  must  go  down  with  it."  With  these  convictions  he 
watched  this  new  movement,  or  rather  this  new  form  of  the  old 
Tractarian  movement,  with  the  deepest  interest.  From  the  be- 
ginning he  recognized  its  real  character.  Knowing,  moreover,  as 
he  did,  how  the  same  errors,  essentially,  had  been  toyed  with  by  a 
large  party,  perhaps  the  ruling  majority  of  our  Church,  he  was 
anxious  to  see  whether  in  this  new  aspect  they  would  have  the 
same  reception.  He  was  therefore  highly  gratified  with  the  first 
declaration  of  the  Bishops  in  regard  to  Ritualism,  and  with  what 
seemed  a  very  extensive  indisposition  to  accept  the  views  put  forth 
in  the  little  volume  of  Bishop  Hopkins.  It  was  not  so  much  with 
Dr.  Sparrow  a  question  of  aesthetics,  as  of  doctrinal  teaching ;  not  of 
flowers,  or  crosses,  or  dresses,  or  processions,  but  of  truths  obscured 
or  falsehoods  symbolized ;  -of  one  system  of  doctrine  pat  aside  and 


286  MEMOIR    OF 

another  elevated.  In  itself,  therefore,  and  in  its  doctrinal  results, 
the  controversy  was  to  him  of  the  deepest  importance. 

But  this  controversy  was  watched  by  Dr.  Sparrow  with  peculiar 
interest,  as  to  its  bearing  upon  another  practical  question,  that  of  the 
real  toleration  of  men  of  Evangelical  views,  in  what  they  had  always 
claimed  as  an  exercise  of  their  lawful  liberty.  Supposing,  without 
admitting,  that  some  of  these  things  were  irregularities,  would  or 
could  the  dominant  party  allow  and  tolerate  greater  irregularities 
to  those  engaged  in  the  new  movement,  and  go  on  in  their  former 
intolerant  course  toward  Evangelicals?  The  result  of  the  Tyng 
trial,  of  the  Cheney  case,  and  the  loud  condemnation  of  Episcopal 
clergymen  who  communed  with  other  Protestant  clergymen  during 
the  meeting  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance — indeed,  the  general  drift  of 
ecclesiastical  legislation,  to  the  time  of  his  death — impressed  him 
painfully  as  to  what  might  be  the  final  result.  His  conviction  was 
that  there  ought  to  be  greater  freedom  of  action  and  of  ritual,  to  all 
classes,  or  greater  stringency  in  demand  as  to  doctrine.  The  former 
would  secure  peace,  in  the  way  of  dissentients  agreeing  to  differ, 
the  latter  in  the  real  unity  of  inward  agreement.  That  the  latter 
mode  of  settling  the  difficulty  would  be  adopted  he  had  very  little 
hope;  and  events  seemed  to  show  that  the  former,  for  one  class, 
was  as  far  off  as  ever.  As  to  the  doctrinal  views  involved  in  the 
new  movement,  Dr.  Sparrow  was  too  profound  a  theologian  not  to 
recognize  that  it  was  the  old  enemy  in  a  new  uniform,  a  material- 
ized Christianity,  against  which  his  whole  life  and  teaching  had 
been  directed.  Its  specific  importance  was  that  it  was  more  open. 
There  was  less  effort  to  hide  its  essential  character.  And  it  had 
associated  with  itself  additional  elements  which,  to  certain  classes, 
were  making  it  more  attractive. 

But  while  thus  deeply  interested  with  this  form  of  development, 
and  its  anticipated  results,  he  was  not  wanting  in  like  interest  as 
to  others.  Allusion  has  been  made  as  to  his  estimate  of  the  moral 
and  religious  significance  of  such  works  as  Ecce  Homo,  and  its 
various  replies  and  defences ;  to  the  evidence  which  he  gratefully 
recognized,  even  in  semi-Christian  and  positively  anti-Christian 
works,  of  the  hold  which  revealed  truth  and  its  issues  had  upon 
the  mind  and  heart  of  the  age,  and  upon  men  of  certain  classes, 
and  of  a  certain  kind  of  culture,  beyond  anything  of  the  kind  in 
previous  experience.  Of  course  such  evidence  was  heightened  in 
the  appearance  of  works  decidedly  defensive  of  the  great  principles 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,   D.  D.  287 

of  revealed  truth,  such,  for  instance,  as  the  Duke  of  Argyle's  "reign 
of  law."  The  more  outspoken  forms  of  unbelief,  those  especially 
connected  with  investigations  in  the  department  of  material  nature, 
had  not  assumed  the  prominence  with  which  they  have  since  come 
before  the  world.  There  were,  however,  clear  indications  of  their 
approach;  that  the  materialized  Christianity  which  was  vexing 
the  Church  would  find  its  support  in  a  materialized  philosophy 
which  was  seeking  to  debauch  the  intellect  of  the  world.  The 
former,  as  more  directly  affecting  the  life  and  doctrine  of  the  Church^ 
as  coming  in  conflict  with  principles  of  Christian  truth,  more  natu- 
rally became,  with  him,  the  object  of  attention. 

With  these  feelings  it  was  that  he  attended,  as  a  delegate, 
the  General  Convention  of  1868.  It  was  scarcely  with  the  hope, 
but  still  with  the  question  as  a  possibility,  will  anything,  in  the 
way  of  legislation,  take  place  through  which  the  existing  and 
increasing  evils  of  symbolized  Romanism  in  our  midst  can  be 
reached  and  arrested  ?  As  a  member  of  the  Convention,  he  took 
no  part  beyond  his  vote,  and  conference  with  his  friends  and  col- 
leagues. With  the  results  he  was  not  encouraged;  indeed,  he 
regarded  the  change  in  the  Canon,  as  to  those  who  could  minister 
in  congregations,  as  not  only  unnecessary,  but  as  positively 
damaging  to  the  Protestant  spirit  and  cause  in  our  Church. 
Fully  appreciating  the  reasons  presented  by  some  of  his  ecclesias- 
tical friends  and  leaders  in  favor  of  the  change,  he  still  believed 
that  it  had  injured  the  great  cause  to  which  he  and  they  were  alike 
devoted.  It  was,  in  his  estimation,  another  onward  step  in  the  pro- 
cess of  dissociating  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  from  sympa- 
thy, feeling,  and  interest  with  the  non-Episcopal  Churches  of 
Christendom — in  other  words,  from  Protestantism;  and  that  it 
would  be  accepted  by  them,  and  by  a  large  portion  of  the  Episco- 
pal Church,  as  meaning  that  they  had  no  right  to  exist,  had,  in 
truth,  no  proper  ecclesiastical  existence.  To  this  last  dogma,  that 
of  excluding  communities  from  the  very  name  of  Christian  Churches, 
not  on  moral,  religious  or  theological  grounds,  but  upon  those  of 
mere  outward  order  and  arrangement,  he  stood  in  the  most  uncom- 
promising antagonism.  His  theological  nature  repudiated  it  as  a 
monstrous  absurdity ;  his  moral  nature,  as  a  great  moral  and  reli- 
gious outrage.  The  progress  of  this  dogma,  the  implicit  form  in 
which  it  was  accepted  and  acted  upon,  were  facts  which  gave  him 
pain,  not  merely  in  view  of  the  error  involved,  but  of  its  dwarfing 


288  MEMOIR    OF 

arid  debilitating  influence  upon  ecclesiastical  and  religious  life.  His 
most  unsparing  attack  upon  it,  the  Commencement  address  of  1869, 
was,  not  improbably,  suggested  by  the  results  of  this  Convention. 

Before  leaving  these  few  opening  sessions,  we  may  touch  upon 
two  points  of  interest  which,  at  the  time,  were  productive  to  Dr. 
Sparrow  of  some  considerable  anxiety,  requiring  tact  and  good 
feeling  to  deal  with  them  successfully.  The  number  of  students 
for  the  session  1867-8  doubled  that  of  the  year  previous,  ran  up 
from  twenty-five  to  fifty.  With  this  increase,  in  a  little  time  were 
developed  two  sources  of  anxiety,  of  which  a  large  portion  fell 
to  his  share,  as  presiding  official  of  the  Institution.  One  of  these 
was  the  feeling  or  suspicion  of  a  portion,  not  of  all,  of  the  stu- 
dents from  the  North,  that  there  was  a  strong  prejudice  and  ani- 
mosity against  them  in  the  Seminary,  and  in  the  community 
around.  In  some  cases  the  impression  was  removed.  In  others  it 
proved  ineradicable,  and  those  entertaining  it  finally  left  the  In- 
stitution ;  although  in  no  single  instance  could  there  be  ascertained 
by  the  Faculty,  through  personal  inquiry  of  the  complainants,  a 
specific  case  of  positive  incivility.  The  most  hopeless  form  in 
which  these  impressions  existed,  hopeless  as  to  the  prospect  of  their 
removal,  was  that  which  took  the  direction  of  alarm,  fear  of  per- 
sonal violence  from  imagined  lawless  combinations  investing  the 
Seminary  grounds,  or  lying  in  ambush  for  students  on  their  way  to 
Alexandria.  This,  at  the  time,  by  those  resident  at  the  Seminary, 
was  seen  to  be  utterly  absurd  and  without  foundation.  Never, 
perhaps,  was  its  quiet  neighborhood  more  free  from  elements  of 
disturbance. 

But  these  impressions,  however  absurd  in  themselves,  were  any- 
thing but  absurd  as  to  be  dealt  with  and  disposed  of — anything 
but  absurd  in  their  consequences.  Some  of  them  were  commu- 
nicated to  friends  of  the  Seminary  at  a  distance,  and  at  this  sea- 
son of  her  peculiar  need  closed  their  hearts  to  her  appeals,  or 
led  them  to  contribute  to  her  aid  with  the  feeling  that  in  all 
probability  it  was  to  the  promotion  of  sectional  animosity.  The 
whole  matter,  to  Dr.  Sparrow  in  particular,  was  a  source  of 
the  deepest  annoyance  and  anxiety.  The  kindness  and  courteous 
liberality  with  which  he  had  been  met  in  his  appeal  for  aid  in 
Northern  cities,  he  felt,  had  placed  him  and  the  Institution  under 
great  obligations.  He  was  anxious  to  express  his  sense  of  such 
obligation.  The  arrival  of  every  student  from  the  North  was  wel- 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  289 

corned,  therefore,  not  only  as  an  indication  of  returning  confidence 
and  good  feeling,  but  as  affording  opportunity  for  such  expression, 
as  also  of  making  returns,  in  some  form,  for  benefits  received. 
Everything  of  the  kind  indicated  in  these  difficulties  interfered 
with  the  attainment  of  his  desires ;  and  he  was  ever  on  the  alert  to 
explain  differences,  and  remove  apprehensions.  In  most  cases  he 
was  successful;  and  it  is  due  to  the  students  from  both  sections  to 
say  that  their  admirable  spirit  sustained  and  aided  him  in  his  en- 
deavors. So  much  so,  that  within  the  course  of  two  or  three  ses- 
sions this  element  of  anxiety  entirely  disappeared ;  may  be  said, 
at  the  present  time,  to  be  unknown. 

Connected  with  this  source  of  anxiety,  in  the  increase  of  the 
number  of  the  students,  was  another,  having  to  do  with  a  portion 
of  them,  those  constituting  the  Preparatory  Department.  The 
peculiar  object  and  idea  of  that  department  was  to  provide  instruc- 
tion for  a  certain  class  desiring  to  enter  the  Seminary,  candidates 
for  the  ministry  not  sufficiently  advanced  in  knowledge  to  enter 
a  college  class,  and  yet  too  far  advanced  in  years  to  be  classed 
with  boys  in  an  ordinary  school.  As,  however,  the  instructors 
provided  for  these  could,  without  additional  labor  or  expense,  in- 
struct others,  the  department  was  enlarged  so  as  to  take  any 
who  were  preparing  for  the  ministry,  above  the  age  of  eighteen,  that 
at  which  students  were  admitted  to  the  theological  classes.  But  it 
was  never  intended  as  a  grammar  school  for  college  classes,  or  as  a 
place  of  preparation  for  other  Institutions.  Misapprehension  upon 
both  of  these  points  seemed  to  find  place  with  pupils  of  this  earlier 
period,  some  of  whom  went  to  other  seminaries,  and  others  to  secu- 
lar institutions.  The  distinct  manifestation  of  this  abuse  soon 
wrought  its  own  remedy.  But  it  had  its  effect  in  another  direction ; 
increased  existing  fears  and  doubts  of  some  of  the  friends  and  gover- 
nors of  the  Institution,  as  to  the  expediency  or  propriety  of  such 
department  in  connection  with  the  Seminary.  By  some  the  objec- 
tion was  urged  that  the  two  years  in  the  Preparatory  Department, 
and  the  three  in  the  theological,  was  too  long  a  period  to  be  at  any 
one  institution,  though  it  was  admitted  that  at  the  University,  or 
any  other  secular  institution,  such  prolonged  residence  would  be  emi- 
nently desirable.  Then,  again,  it  was  objected  that  such  arrange- 
ment would  secularize  the  members  of  the  theological  classes ;  though 
it  was  admitted  that  in  all  other  institutions  class  influences  were 
from  above  upon  those  below,  rather  than  from  below  upon  those 
19 


290  MEMOIR    OF 

above.  In  reference  to  this  whole  subject,  Dr.  Sparrow  took  a  most 
decided  position.  Most  of  the  plans  proposed  by  the  objectors  and 
doubters  he  had  himself  tried,  or  seen  tried  by  others.  Most  of 
the  difficulties  he  had  carefully  considered.  And,  while  distinctly 
recognizing  that  there  were  cases  in  which  this  initial  preparation 
could  go  on  more  advantageously  elsewhere,  he,  at  the  same  time, 
felt  assured  that  there  were  many  others,  the  majority,  for  whom 
the  Preparatory  Department  constituted  the  best,  and,  indeed,  the 
only  effective  provision  that  could  be  made.  His  appeal  always 
was  to  its  successful  operation ;  that,  since  originated  in  the  Vir- 
.ginia  Seminary,  it  had  been  adopted  in  other  institutions,  and  that 
the  real  question  was,  not  whether  the  authorities  could  dictate,  to 
-material  with  which  they  were  in  no  relation,  other  and  better  courses 
elsewhere,  but  whether,  if  it  came,  should  it  be  provided  for? 
The  continued  effectiveness  of  this  department,  and  the  gradual 
recognition  of  its  real  character  and  work,  eventually  disposed  of 
most,  if  not  all,  of  these  objections.  Dr.  Sparrow  was  permitted 
to  see  its  successful  operation.  Its  material  at  the  time  of  his 
death  was  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  that  of  any  former  period ;  and 
he  had  the  gratification  of  knowing  that,  of  the  graduates  of  the 
three  or  four  preceding  years,  some  of  the  most  promising,  as  to 
efficiency,  were  among  those  who  had  received  their  preliminary 
training  in  the  Preparatory  Department. 

His  last  performance  of  duty  in  this  department,  in  the  way  of 
active  instruction,  was  during  the  spring  of  1869,  through  the  sick- 
ness of  the  regular  tutor.  This  necessitated  a  division  of  his 
work  among  the  professors;  and  for  three  months  Dr.  Sparrow 
taught  the  class  in  Greek,  very  greatly  to  the  delight  of  his  pupils. 
Subsequent  to  this,  as  Dean  of  the  Faculty,  he  (occasionally)  was 
present  at  recitations  of  the  classes,  and  made  it  a  point  to  show 
his  deep  interest  in  their  advancement,  as  in  the  thoroughness  of 
the  process  by  which  it  was  made. 

These  duties  and  labors  were  pleasantly  relieved  toward  the 
close  of  this  session,  by  an  event  of  a  most  gratifying  nature,  and  one 
which  for  a  time  removed  from  him  a  source  of  anxiety.  This  was 
the  munificent  donation  of  $100,000,  from  A.  G.  P.  Dodge,  Esq.,  to 
the  endowment  of  the  Seminary,  relieving  it  very  largely  from 
its  pecuniary  embarrassments.  Mention  has  already  been  made 
of  the  five  years'  subscription  secured  by  Dr.  Sparrow,  in  1866, 
and  of  the  task  falling  upon  him  in  the  way  of  its  collection. 


WILLIAM     SPARED  W,    D.  D.  291 

As  the  active  medium  between  the  trustees  and  the  subscribers, 
it  was  a  matter  constantly  upon  his  mind,  involving  continuous 
correspondence.  At  the  same  time,  he  was  making  effort  for  an 
increase  of  the  permanent  endowment.  Three  of  the  five  years 
over  which  the  subscription  extended  had  passed.  The  question  as 
to  what  would  supply  its  place  with  the  close  of  the  remaining  two, 
naturally  presented  itself,  and  these  efforts  had  in  view  its  practical 
solution.  All  these  anxious  questions  seemed,  in  this  donation,  to 
be  satisfactorily  answered,  and  the  Doctor  was  thus  enabled  to 
rejoice  in  the  assurance  to  the  Seminary  of  relief  from  its  embar- 
rassments. The  writer  well  remembers  his  beaming  countenance 
as  he  walked  in  and  announced  the  unanticipated  but  agreeable 
intelligence ;  how,  as  he  walked  to  and  fro,  he  gave  expression  to 
his  feelings  of  relief,  gratification,  and  of  gratitude  to  his  God  for 
its  bestowal.  Those  bright  anticipations,  in  all  respects,  were  not 
fully  realized.  They  were,  however,  in  many. 

The  Board  of  Trustees  were  thus  enabled,  at  once,  to  put  in 
repair  the  buildings  of  the  Seminary  and  the  residences  of  the 
Professors,  as  also  to  make  provision  for  a  fourth  Professorship. 
The  benefit  of  the  donation  in  these  forms  was  immediately  realized ; 
and  although  it  did  not  go  to  the  extent  and  desires  of  its  donor, 
yet,  in  its  actual  reception  and  use,  to  the  amount  of  nearly  $30,000, 
before  the  reverses  of  1872,  it  constituted  by  far  the  largest  con- 
tribution which  the  Seminary  has  ever  received  from  any  one 
individual.  It  may  thus  properly  constitute  a  ground  of  obligation 
and  of  grateful  acknowledgment  to  its  recipients,  as  it  may  of 
gratification  to  its  donor. 

Mention  has  been  made  of  the  Commencement  Address  of  this 
session — 1868-69.  It  is  one  of  the  most  striking  of  Dr.  Spar- 
row's productions,  a  tract  for  the  times,  the  earnest  outpouring  of 
the  author's  heart  in  reference  to  evils  which  he  recognized  as  injur- 
ing and  destroying  the  real  life  of  the  Church,  and  against  which 
he  would  desire  to  warn  his  brethren.  It  was  listened  to  with  deep 
interest  by  the  Alumni  and  clergy  present,  and  the  delivery  was 
followed  by  a  request  for  its  publication.  As  this  will  probably 
be  given  in  full  in  the  present  volume,  or  in  a  volume  of  the  Doc- 
tor's sermons,  no  further  account  of  it  just  here  is  given.  There 
are  several  letters  to  pupils,  on  matters  of  interest  at  the  time, 
which  may  at  this  point  be  inserted.  One  of  them  will  very  naturally 
constitute  the  introduction  to  a  topic  by  which  they  are  followed. 


292  MEMOIR  OF 

ON  A  MINISTER'S  RECEIVING  THE  TITLE  OF  "  D.  D." 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  July  9,  1867. 

"My  DEAR : — 

"  My  pen  has  been  laid  by  for  nearly  a  fortnight,  in  consequence 
of  sickness.  I  now  resume  it  to  say  that  I  have  lately  heard  of 
your  great  titular  distinction.  And  so  you  are  one  of  the  great 
fraternity  of  doctors — doctors  of  law,  and t  medicine,  and  farriery, 
and  rain,  and  witchcraft,  and  theology!  I  hardly  know  how  to 
treat  you  in  the  premises;  to  rejoice  or  sympathize  with  you;  to  act 
as  the  bridegroom's  friend,  or  as  one  of  Job's  comforters !  On  the 
whole,  I  am  disposed  to  regard  it  as  a  calamity.  So  it  was  to  me 
when  it  befell  me;  so  at  the  time  I  regarded  it.  That  it  should 
mean  nothing  I  did  not  like,  for  I  loathe  all  humbugs ;  and  if  it 
meant  something,  and  that  something  was  anything,  I  felt  I  could 
not  fill  it  out;  and  so,  instead  of  serving,  it  would  do  a  disservice, 
raising  expectations  only  to  disappoint  them,  and  make  my  deficien- 
cies the  more  apparent.  Thus,  you  see,  I  am,  in  view  of  my  own 
experience,  quite  at  a  loss  how  to  address  you  on  this  '  interesting 
occasion.'  However,  to  come  down  from  these  heights  and  take  a 
common  sense  view  of  the  subject,  I  would  fain  hope  it  is  a  matter 
of  small  account  every  way.  Doctorates,  after  all,  it  should  be 
remembered,  are  as  numerous  and  cheap  as  blackberries,  and  are 
thought  no  more  of  than  the  title  of  professor;  and  professors  we 
have  of  dancing,  and  the  extraction  of  corns.  While  this  is  the 
fact,  I  do  not  think  you  need  be  much  elated  or  depressed  by  the 
action  of  your  alma  mater.  The  only  tangible  and  available  idea 
I  can  gather  from  the  whole  affair  is  the  suggestion  that,  as  it  comes 
from  a  learned  institution,  and  has  reference  to  the  highest  of  all 
sciences,  it  may  well  set  us  striving  after  solid  information  and 
well-considered  opinions. 

"  Yours  affectionately,  WM.  SPARROW." 

"  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  October  19,  1867. 
"  REV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER  : — 

"I  am  sorry  to  learn  your  fears  about  the  godlessness  of  your 
town,  though  there  are  so  many  churches  in  it.  It  is  a  sad  fact 
that  there  seems  so  great  a  disproportion  between  the  means  of 
grace  and  the  effects  of  grace;  between  the  light  enjoyed  and  the 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,   D.  D.  293 

resulting  holiness.  The  perception  of  this  enters  into  the  motives 
of  some  in  favoring  ritualism,  and  multiplying  ceremonies,  emblems, 
forms,  postures,  processions,  colors,  paintings,  statuary  and  music. 
But  the  yellow  fever,  or  the  plague,  is  not  to  be  cured  by  pepper- 
mint. It  is  not  by  such  might  or  power  that  the  work  is  to  be 
done,  but  by  'my  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord.'  And  the  Spirit  does  not 
call  for  such  means  and  appliances,  such  channels  through  which 
to  reach  the  human  heart;  there  are  enough  of  these  already. 
What  was  the  instrumentality  through  which,  in  Apostolic  times, 
such  moral  wonders  were  effected  ?  It  was  not  the  Church,  as  a 
great  and  well-organized  and  perfected  system  of  ingeniously  con- 
trived means,  brought  to  bear  in  a  very  complex  way  upon  society. 
Religion  was  a  simple  thing,  and  it  came,  of  course,  to  society;  but 
much  more  to  the  individual,  and  took  hold  of  him  with  power, 
and  made  him,  consciously  to  himself  and  manifestly  to  others,  'a 
new  man.'  And  the  medium  through  which  the  Spirit  of  the  Gos- 
pel thus  reached  him,  and  transformed  him,  I  believe,  was  the 
highly  spiritual  character  of  the  first  preachers  themselves.  That 
is  the  instrumentality  which  God  has  always  chiefly  employed  for 
introducing  a  new  dispensation  of  religion  into  the  world,  or  for 
reforming  an  old  one,  or  for  any  way  'reviving  His  work'  in  the 
world.  We  have,  I  was  going  to  say,  churches  enough,  and  minis- 
ters enough,  in  point  of  numbers ;  but  ah !  the  quality  is  by  no 
means  what  it  ought  to  be.  Till  that  is  improved,  I  despair  of 
much  progress  in  the  number  of  Christian  disciples.  When  the 
'  head '  of  supply  is  high,  the  waters  will  flow  further  and  stand 
deeper.  When  it  is  low,  they  will  be  both  circumscribed  and 
shallow ;  the  latter,  I  will  venture  to  assert,  is  the  case  in  your 
town.  Not  that  the  ministers  who  are  and  have  been  there  are 
not  able  and  educated  men.  So  we  think  of  our  ministers,  of 
course,  and  as  to  others,  we  can  hardly  say  their  '  pulpit '  is  more 
'  imbecile '  than  ours.  What  we  all  want,  to  advance  the  cause  of 
Christ,  and  convert  '  godless '  villages  into  pious  communities,  is 
more  of  the  simple  'truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,'  putting  itself  forth 
through  a  living  ministry,  thoroughly  imbued  and  informed  by  it. 
This,  and  this  alone,  will  restore  to  us  Pentecostal  blessing  and 
prosperity. 

"  Dear  brother,  you  will  say  '  this  is  the  old  thing  over  again ; 
the  old  man  is  garrulous  with  his  pen  as  with  his  tongue.'  I  plead 
guilty.  I  had  no  thought  of  filling  my  sheet  of  paper  in  this  way 


294  MEMOIR    OF 

when  I  began.  You  will  forgive  me.  I  speak  from  the  abundance 
of  my  heart.  It  is  all  the  time,  more  and  more,  as  I  watch  the 
state  and  progress  of  things  in  the  Christian  world,  overflowing 
with  these  convictions  and  sentiments. 

"You  have  heard  that  Mr.  McKim  has  accepted  Christ  Church, 
Alexandria.  It  is  a  great  satisfaction  to  me  to  know  that  he  will 
soon  be  in  our  midst. 

"We  have  forty  students  on  the  Seminary  Hill,  and  look  confi- 
dently for  two  or  three  more.  When  I  see  them  thus  multiplying, 
I  am  sometimes  ready  to  wish  the  vigor  of  former  years  were 
restored  to  me,  that  I  might  better  discharge  my  duty.  But  He 
who  put  me  here  knew  the  imperfection  of  His  instrument,  and 
decreed  its  gradual  failure  and  decay,  and  that  should  be  enough 
for  me.  Oh,  that  we  could  lose  ourselves  always  in  His  sovereign 
authority  and  infinite  glory ! 

"Rev.  T.  U.Dudley,  Jr." 

To  THE  SAME. 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  November  14,  1868. 
"  DEAR  BROTHER  : — 

"  I  received  your  letter,  and  thank  you  heartily  for  it.  You 
were  not  mistaken  in  the  interest  I  took  in  regard  to  your  deter- 
mination about  going  South.  It  had  been  much  in  my  mind  from 
the  hour  you  mentioned  it  in  New  York.  I  feel  persuaded  you 
have  done  wisely,  and  that  God  will  bless  you  in  what  you  have 
done.  As  you  hint,  the  mere  effort,  by  prayer  and  self-examina- 
tion, to  find  out  the  will  of  God,  cannot  fail  to  benefit.  The  fur- 
ther we  can  get  into  that  temper  of  mind  in  which  all  is  referred 
to  God,  and  nothing  reserved  for  ourselves  in  independence  of  Him, 
the  happier,  the  more  spiritually  powerful,  and  the  more  useful 
shall  we  be.  As  to  anything  other  than  you  have  got  in  your 
present  position,  it  will  come  in  due  season.  Only  wait  the  Lord's 
leisure;  the  Lord's,  I  say,  not  the  world's,  or  the  Church's,  or 
man's  leisure,  but  the  Lord's. 

"  I  do  hope  I  shall  be  able  some  time  to  write  that  letter  about 
Baptism  I  heard  you  speak  of.  I  firmly  believe  the  subject  admits 
of  being  clearly  and  satisfactorily  set  forth.  The  main  requisite 
to  a  right  and  easy  understanding  of  it  is,  that  we  approach  it  in 
the  proper  attitude  of  mind,  and  from  the  right  direction.  Method 
is  everything  in  such  matters.  For  instance,  we  ought  to  begin 


WILLIAM     SPARED  W,    D.  D.  295 

our  examination  of  the  subject  with  the  true  normal  case,  the  case 
of  adult  baptism,  the  only  case  that  is  undoubtedly  mentioned  and 
clearly  exemplified  in  the  New  Testament.  Then,  again,  we  should 
descend  from  the  general  to  the  particular,  not  inversely.  By 
this  I  mean,  we  ought  first  to  settle  in  our  minds,  on  grounds  of 
reason,  the  teaching  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  the  spirit  of  the 
New  as  compared  with  the  Old.  What  is  the  relation  of  things 
external  in  general,  in  the  Church  of  Christ,  to  things  internal,  and 
what,  consequently,  is  the  design  and  use  of  sacraments  in  particu- 
lar. Thirdly,  we  ought  to  familiarize  our  minds  with  the  strong 
Oriental  way,  throughout  the  Bible,  of  representing  all  spiritual  ex- 
ercises and  subjects  in  material  language.  Occidentals  have  blun- 
dered because  they  have  forgotten  the  first  law  of  all  sound  inter- 
pretation, namely,  to  place  themselves  in  the  mental  and  ethical 
attitude  of  the  authors;  and  so,  having  started  wrong,  have  landed, 
at  last,  it  may  be  most  logically,  in  the  grossest  superstition  and 
the  rankest  absurdity. 

"  Yours  affectionately,  WILLIAM  SPARROW. 

"To  Bev.  T.  U.  Dudley,  Jr." 


"  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  January  16,  1869. 
"  KEV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER  : — 

"When  I  look  at  the  date  of  your  letter,  I  am  ashamed.  And 
yet  I  can  safely  say,  my  silence  has  not  sprung  from  indifference. 
On  the  contrary,  I  feel  a  thrill  of  interest  passing  over  me  when  I 
reflect  that  to-morrow  you  enter  on  your  duties  in  Christ  Church. 
Absent  in  body,  I  will  be  with  you  in  spirit  on  the  occasion.  My 
heart  goes  forth  in  most  earnest  prayer  that  God  may  abundantly 
bless  you  in  that  new  and  important  enterprise. 

"Dear  brother,  God  has  given  you  talents,  educational  culture, 
qualities  of  temperament,  providential  discipline  in  the  way  of 
trial  and  occupation,  which,  as  means  and  instrumentalities,  au- 
thorize us  to  hope  that  you  may  do  much  for  the  glory  of  God  and 
the  good  of  man.  And  if  your  life  is  long  spared,  I  shall  look  con- 
fidently for  it,  provided  all  these  gifts  and  facilities  are  sanctified 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.  In  saying  this  I  am  not  enunciating  an 
abstract  dogma.  There  is  no  vital  doctrine  of  the  Gospel  so  con- 
stantly in  words  expressed,  and  yet,  practically,  which  is  so  habitu- 
ally shelved,  as  that  of  the  presence  and  power  of  the  Spirit.  Men 


296  MEMOIR    OF 

labor  and  toil  to  realize  the  very  body  and  blood  of  Jesus  Christ 
as  present  in  the  elements  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  they  contend 
for,  and  never  lose  sight  of,  the  supposed  power  of  the  priesthood 
to  forgive  sin !  But,  alas !  the  presence  about  which,  theoretically, 
there  is  no  dispute,  and  the  power  to  which,  in  words,  it  is  con- 
fessed all  efficiency  in  the  things  of  God  properly  belongs,  are  not 
sought,  and  counted,  and  involved,  and  habitually  leaned  upon,  as 
they  should  be.  In  saying  what  I  have  said  above,  therefore,  I 
am  expressing  a  deep,  practical  conviction,  which  I  want  to  see 
deepened  more  and  more  every  day  in  myself,  and  those  whom  I 
love,  and  to  whom  I  look  as  fitted  to  be  useful  in  my  Master's  ser- 
vice. Most  clearly  do  I  see,  in  my  own  case  and  history,  that  if 
I  have  ever  done  anything  for  my  Saviour's  cause,  it  was  just  so 
far  as  and  so  long  as  I  lived  in  His  Spirit  as  my  element,  listened 
to  His  Spirit  as  my  prompter,  leaned  upon  His  Spirit  as  my 
strength,  and  prayed  in  His  Spirit  as  the  unfailing  procurement  of 
needed,  real  good.  And  wherein  I  have  failed — and  my  life  has 
been,  to  a  sad  extent,  a  grievous  failure — how  clearly  do  I  also  see 
it  has  come  of  self-dependence,  and  self-seeking,  and  self-sufficiency. 
In  ourselves  we  are  weak ;  out  of  ourselves,  strong.  As  the  Apos- 
tle has  it,  'when  I  am  weak  (in  feeling)  then  am  I  strong'  (in  fact). 
But  when  the  Apostle  said  this,  he  was  living  very  nigh  to  God. 
One  who  did  not  so  live,  could  not  in  truth  speak  thus.  It  would 
not  be  truth  to  him  in  fact  or  feeling.  It  might  be  in  some  sense  his 
creed,  but  it  would  not  be  his  life.  Let  us,  dear  brother,  live  nigh 
to  God,  and  carefully  drive  away  anything  that  would  put  itself  be- 
tween us  and  Him.  How  much  there  is  thus  to  interpose  between 
us  and  Him !  The  world  in  its  various  forms  of  fashion,  and  beauty, 
and  eclat,  and  popularity,  and  prominence,  and  high  life,  and  luxu- 
ry, and  pride,  will  push  between  us.  Even  the  Church  may  exer- 
cise an  intervention  of  hindrance  rather  than  help,  and  by  its 
organizations,  and  offices  and  forms,  hinder  that  ultimate  and 
loving  intercourse  of  the  soul  with  God  which  constitutes  the  char- 
acter of  the  Christian  and  the  power  of  the  Christian  minister. 

"  I  did  not  mean  to  run  to  the  end  of  my  paper  before  I  had 
begun  to  answer  your  letter.  Yet  so  have  I  done.  I  hope  you 
will  pardon  the  error,  as  it  was  one  of  weakness,  not  intention.  In 
reply  to  yours,  I  had  many  things  to  say,  but  I  cannot  say  them 
now.  Indeed,  Weldon  has  just  come  to  take  letters  to  the  office, 
and  I  must  close.  I  may  write  my  answer  at  another  time,  either 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,    D.   D.  297 

on  paper  or  viva  voce.     In  the  meanwhile,  accept  this  random  out- 
pouring of  my  heart,  from 

"Your  affectionate  friend,  WM.  SPARROW. 

"Rev.  T.  U.  Dudley,  Jr.'1 

"  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  July  26,  1869. 
"  REV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER  : — 

"  I  have  been  on  the  point  of  writing  you  every  day  for  a  week, 
but  have  put  it  off,  partly  because  I  have  been  expecting  to  hear 
from  you,  and  partly  because  I  have  thought  you  might  be  in  Nor- 
folk. My  business  is  that  redoubtable  address,  or  discourse,  or 
discourses,  or  sermon,  or  homily,  or  baccalaureate  exhortation,  or 
whatever  else  you  may  choose  to  call  it  (?).  You  may  think  it  much 
ado  about  nothing ;  but  a  hen  that  lays  an  egg,  however  small, 
once  in  ten  years,  may  be  allowed  to  cackle  over  it.  Have  you 
got  the  manuscript  for  Mr.  Pridham,  and  have  you  sent  it  to  New 
York?  That  is  all. 

"  I  suppose  Cheney's  trial  is  nearly  over.  However  it  is  deter- 
mined it  will  prove  important.  If  he  is  acquitted,  it  will  help  to 
deliver  us  from  that  rubrical  martinetism  which  has  of  late  been  in 
a  course  of  imposition  on  our  Church,  while  latitudinarianism  is 
allowed  in  the  infinitely  more  important  matter  of  doctrine.  If 
he  is  condemned,  it  will  lead  to  the  establishment  of  a  number  of 
independent  Episcopal  Churches,  till  at  length  they  get  a  Bishop  at 
their  head,  and  so  we  shall  have  another  Episcopal  Church  in  these 
United  States!  We  already  have  the  Romish,  the  Moravian,  the 
Greek,  perhaps  the  Swedish,  and  the  Protestant  Episcopal;  why 
not  the  Reformed  Protestant  Episcopal  ?  Oh,  when  will  Churches 
learn  wisdom?  The  world  is  wiser  in  its  generation  than  they. 
The  one  great  defect  in  our  leading  men  is,  they  do  not  enlarge 
their  ideas  enough.  They  are  using  the  microscope,  when  they 
ought  to  be  employing  the  telescope. 

"  Ever  yours,  WILLIAM  SPARROW. 

"  Rev.  T.  U.  Dudley,  Jr." 

EXTRACT  FROM  LETTER  DATED  JULY  7,  1869,  IN  REFERENCE  TO 
ADDRESS  ALLUDED  TO  IN  LAST  LETTER. 

"  After  writing,  delivering,  and  then  reading  in  print,  a  man's 
own  productions — oh,  how  he  loathes  them !  To  go  through  the 


298  MEMOIR    OF 

correcting  of  the  proof  has  been  like  taking  nauseous  medicine.  I 
have  felt  at  every  turn  ready  to  'throw  up,1  in  every  sense  of  the 
expression. 

"  Ever  since  you  told  me  about  that  little  piece  of  poetry  which 
has  touched  so  many  people's  hearts  on  this  and  the  other  side  of 
the  Atlantic,  I  have  felt  a  desire  to  see  it,  and  have  inquired  for  it 
in  vain.  What  is  its  title,  and  where  is  it  to  be  had?  My  heart 
is  frozen,  even  in  this  hot  weather,  and  I  want  to  thaw  it. 

"  Affectionately  yours,  W.  SPARROW." 

"July  28,  1869. 
"  REV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER  : — 

"Our  correspondence,  or  at  least  mine,  is  becoming  quite  active. 
It  can  hardly  be  necessary  to  send  another  title  page.  On  the  one 
you  sent  did  you  put  the  authority  by  which  the  thing  was  pub- 
lished? On  no  account  can  I  be  responsible  for  exposing  such  a 
bantling  to  the  public  gaze !  I  am  more  than  willing  to  father  it, 
but  I  can't  vaunt  it.  Publication  looks  a  good  deal  like  vaunting. 
In  yesterday's  letter  I  inquired,  at  the  printer's  request,  about  the 
number  of  copies  to  be  published.  You  will  please  answer  the 
question  to  him. 

"  I  have  been  amused  at  the  requests  already  received  for  copies 
of  the  Address.  That  I  have  spoken  out  on  the  notion  of  the  value 
of  tactual  succession,  seems  to  be  the  point  of  interest.  Perhaps 
it  would  have  been  well  if  I  had  made  that  the  sole  topic  of 
discourse,  instead  of  crowding  in  so  many  others. 

"Affectionately  yours,  W.  S. 

"Rev.  T.  U.  Dudley,  Jr." 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  FAIRFAX  Co., 

"November  22,  1867. 
"  REV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER  : — 

"I  received  your  letter  and  the  inclosure  last  night,  but  regret 
to  say  I  can  do  nothing  for  your  friend  in  the  matter  about  which 
he  writes.  No  one  of  our  young  men  is  prepared  to  enter  on  the 
field  indicated.  This  is  to  me  especially  sad,  seeing  the  people 
crave  ministrations  of  an  evangelical  stamp. 

"I  was  not  a  little  pleased  to  receive  your  letter;  it  brought  up 
many  old  recollections  which  were  very  pleasant,  among  the  rest 
the  trip  I  made  with  you  long  years  ago  to  your  sister's  in  Detroit. 
I  was  then  young,  and,  though  sickly,  vigorous;  now  I  am  old,  and 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  299 

though  I  still  work,  my  energy  is  not  as  exhaustless  as  it  was.  My 
hope  is,  if  I  live,  to  visit  Ganabier  next  summer.  I  should  have 
done  it  this  year,  but  the  res  angusta  domi  prevented.  Should  I 
accomplish  my  purpose,  I  shall  hope  to  have  a  long  chat  with  you. 
Our  Seminary,  thank  God,  is  prospering  beyond  our  expectations ; 
we  have  upward  of  forty  students;  but  though  numerically  we 
prosper,  nummularily — pecuniarily,  we  are  very  much  straitened. 
Still,  we  are  very  hopeful. 

"  Mrs.  S.  desires  to  reciprocate  your  kind  remembrance.  My 
family  is  now  small.  Out  of  nine  children  but  one  is  with  me,  and 
she  an  invalid — Frances.  These  changes  forewarn  us  that  the  last 
change  is  near. 

"  With  kind  regards  to  all  who  remember  me,  I  am,  very  truly, 
"  Your  friend  and  brother,  WILLIAM  SPARROW. 

"Rev.  Mr.  Blake,  Gambier,  Ohio." 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  November  11,  1868. 
"  MY  DEAR  J.:— 

"On  the  whole,  the  Convention,  if  it  did  little  good,  also  did 
little  harm.  The  Bishop's  Pastoral  is  as  outspoken  as  the  famous 
Declaration. 

"Dr.  B.  spent  last  Sunday  with  us,  and  preached  two  most 
excellent  sermons.  I  think  he  is  somewhat  liberalized  in  his 
theological  views,  though  perhaps  morbidly  sensitive  about  'the 
germs.'  Large  bodies  move  slowly,  and  we  are  a  specially  slow,  if 
not  large  coach.  In  due  time,  by  patience  and  kindly  discussion, 
and,  above  all,  diligence  in  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  to  sinners 
and  saints,  our  wishes  in  regard  to  the  Prayer-book  must  be 
gratified.  The  prospect  at  this  time  is  better  than  it  ever  was.  I 
am  only  anxious  about  the  temper  of  the  brethren.  This  point 
must  be  carried  by  love  and  good  works,  not  by  polemic  bitterness 
and  party  tactics.  Do  write  me  soon.  All  send  their  love.  With 
love  to  the  children, 

"  Your  affectionate  father,  W.  SPARROW. 

"Rev.  J.  A.  Jerome." 

"  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  December  17,  1868. 
"  MY  DEAR  J.:— 

"  What  startling  and  distressing  events  we  have  been  called  to 
experience  recently.  The  removal  of  Parven  and  Rising  is  certainly 


300  MEMOIR    OF 

a  mysterious  event.  It  would  seem  as  if  they  were  the  very  two 
men  whom  we  could  not  spare.  I  look  upon  it  as  a  call  to  Evan- 
gelical men  to  cultivate  personal  religion  more.  It  is  by  this  only 
the  Evangelical  party  can  flourish.  It  began  in  this,  and  in  this 
must  continue.  What  a  blessed  thing  if  such  should  be  the  result 
of  this  trying  dispensation.  Two  taken  to  heaven,  and  the  rest 
left  upon  the  earth  advanced  in  their  preparation  for  heaven. 

"  Your  affectionate  father,  WILLIAM  SPARROW. 

"Rev.  John  A.  Jerome" 

"  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  February  24,  1869. 
"KEY.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER  : — 

"  Ten  days  ago,  Mrs.  Sparrow  said  to  me  :  '  You  never  hear  from 
Mr.  H.  now;  why  is  it?'  Before  this,  I  had  purposed,  from  the 
time  of  the  '  verdict,'  to  write  to  you,  and  soon  after  she  thus  spoke 
your  parochial  pamphlet  arrived.  Ever  since,  I  have  been  waiting 
a  moment's  disengagement  to  take  pen  in  hand.  You  know,  dear 
brother,  how  deeply  I  sympathized  with  you  and  watched  the 
progress  of  your  troubles.  When  I  came  to  have  an  interview 
with  you  in  New  York  (too  brief,  by  the  way),  and  saw  how  sleek, 
and  fat  and  flourishing  you  had  come  out  of  your  trials,  I  was 
almost  ready  to  say  to  myself  that  I  had  fallen  into  the  error  of  a 
needless  waste  of  feeling !  But,  on  second  thoughts,  I  looked  at  it  as 
a  matter  of  thankfulness  that  you  were  kept  in  such  peace,  and 
especially  that  matters  were  likely  to  reach  such  an  issue  as  they 
have  since  reached.  Your  pamphlet  makes  me  further  grateful  to 
our  heavenly  Father  that  He  has  borne  such  testimony,  by  the 
fruits  of  your  labors,  to  the  soundness  of  your  principles  and  the 
singleness  of  your  views.  His  name  be  praised ! 

"  Do  write  me  at  some  leisure  moments  about  you  and  yours.  I 
want  to  learn  about  each  one  of  the  family.  I  have  been  grieved 
to  hear  that  Mrs.  H's  health  is  not  good.  I  had  a  letter  not  long 
since  from  dear  Mr.  S.,  sending  money  for  the  Seminary,  but 
he  told  me  nothing  about  M.  He  invited  our  Bishops  on  to  Boston, 
kindly  promising  that  he  would  do  what  he  could,  but  not  other- 
wise speaking  encouragingly.  They  did  not  go,  and  I  regret  it. 
Finding  that,  personally,  they  could  do  so  little  in  New  York, 
perhaps  they  thought  it  a  wild-goose  chase  to  go  further  North. 
They  were  treated  with  much  personal  kindness  in  the  great  city; 
but  because  Virginia  is  still  unreconstructed,  I  fear  there  is  a  want 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  301 

of  confidence  in  us.  Our  Northern  friends  ought  to  distinguish 
between  three  classes — the  Faculty  and  the  Bishops,  the  Students, 
and  Society  at  large — in  these  parts.  The  first  class  confess  them- 
selves bound  by  every  obligation,  as  men  and  Christians,  to  cultivate 
kindly  feeling  toward  those  from  whom  they  were  separated  by  the 
war,  and  to  do  so  not  only  in  form,  but  in  deed  and  in  truth.  As 
to  the  students  from  the  two  sections  of  the  country,  they  are 
living  in  wonderful  harmony  and  brotherly  love.  The  questions 
growing  out  of  the  war  are  tabooed  universally.  Now  and  again, 
I  suppose,  a  word  may  be  uttered  on  one  side  which  the  other  may 
not  like  to  hear,  but  it  must  be  a  very  rare  thing  indeed,  otherwise 
they  could  not  live  so  fraternally  as  they  do,  and  the  good  feeling 
is  increasing  every  day.  Even  in  reference  to  the  third  class, 
outsiders,  this  last  remark  is  true.  Feeling  in  society  is  generally 
softened,  and  I  trust,  before  long,  we  shall  be  as  we  once  were,  and 
in  even  a  far  healthier  condition. 

"  To  hasten  on  the  day  there  is  but  one  way,  the  way  of  forbear- 
ance and  love.  Evil  is  to  be  overcome  by  good.  But  why  do  I 
thus  prose  ?  Forgive  the  impertinence.  With  much  love  to  Mrs. 
H.  and  all  the  family,  I  am  ever  truly, 

"  Your  affectionate  brother,  W.  SPARROW. 

"Rev.  J.  P.  Hubbard" 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  July  1,  1869. 
"  MY  DEAR  J.:— 

"  Though  I  have  nothing  very  special  to  communicate,  yet,  as  it 
is  vacation,  I  am  disposed  to  spend  a  few  moments  in  writing  you  a 
brief  epistle. 

"Our  commencement  week  passed  off  very  pleasantly,  exami- 
nations, sermons,  essays,  and  all.  Dr.  Potter,  from  Grace  Church, 
preached  before  the  Missionary  Society  very  acceptably,  the  essays 
of  the  students  pleased,  and  my  address,  though  terribly  Low- 
Church,  so  commended  itself  to  the  judgment  of  the  forty  clergy- 
men present,  that  they  requested  a  copy  for  publication.  You 
shall  have  a  copy.  To  tell  the  truth,  I  feared  it  would  not  go  down ; 
but  I  wanted  to  deliver  my  conscience  by  a  testimony  against 
Apostolical,  tactual  succession,  and  I  am  thankful  it  was  so  well 
received. 

"  The  Hill  is  as  still  as  the  wilderness.  Nothing  to  be  heard 
but  the  song  of  birds,  or  the  low  of  a  cow.  I  go  to-day  to  Wash- 


302  MEMOIR    OF 

ington,  and  to-morrow  to  Baltimore,  to  spend  Sunday  there  and 
preach.  That,  and  a  trip  to  Fauquier,  are  all  the  expeditions  I 
have  planned  for  the  summer. 

"H.  was  with  us  about  three  weeks,  to  our  great  delight,  and 
to  his  own  also.  He  preached  once  for  us.  When  leaving  he 
expressed  himself  as  very  thankful  that  he  had  come.  He  was 
cordially  received  everywhere.  He  is  a  dear,  good  man.  Religion 
is  an  all-pervading  reality  with  him. 

""Write  me  soon.     With  much  love, 

"Ever  yours,  affectionately,  WM.  SPAEEOW." 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  July  26,  1869. 
"BEV.  AND  DEAE  BEOTHEE: — 

"Accept  my  thanks  for  your  two  most  welcome  letters.  It 
afforded  me  real  pleasure  to  know  that  you  were  pleased  with  your 
visit  here.  I  hope  it  will  lead  to  many  a  similar  visit  in  time  to 
come. 

"  In  regard  to  Church  matters,  what  shall  I  say  ?  There  is  so 
much  to  be  said,  and  every  day  brings  up  such  new  considerations, 
that  it  is  perfectly  vain  to  attempt  anything  by  pen.  In  regard  to 
yourself,  one  idea  was  continually  occurring  as  I  read  your  two 
letters,  the  fear  that  you  might  be  disposed  to  hurry  too  much. 
You  are  naturally  impatient !  But  that  is  not  the  main  point. 
The  main  point  is  that  'large  bodies  move  slow,'  and  of  all,  large 
bodies  Episcopal !  Now,  to  get  them  to  move  at  all,  you  must  not 
be  in  a  hurry;  you  must  be  patient,  be  willing  to  apply  force, 
moral  force,  argument,  for  a  length  of  time.  It  is  thus  only  that 
the  desired  effect  can  be  produced.  No  matter  what  is  in  the 
future,  whether  such  a  revision  as  will  satisfy,  or,  which  God  fore- 
fend,  result  in  a  secession,  it  is  best  accomplished  by  letting 
patience  have  its  perfect  work.  Whatever  is  done,  to  be  well  done, 
the  people  must  be  instructed ;  they  must  be  so  aroused  as  to  be  at 
the  pains  to  learn.  When  the  clergy  and  laity  who  are  sound 
thoroughly  understand  the  issue,  then  we  shall  move  with  power, 
whatever  the  direction.  Until  then,  it  will  only  precipitate  matters 
to  a  disastrous  result  to  take  any  revolutionary  steps. 

"Cheney's  trial  is  going  on,  I  suppose.  Whilst  I  am  deeply 
pained  that  he  should  be  subjected  to  such  anxiety  and  mortifica- 
tion, I  think  it  will  result  in  good.  If  he  is  condemned,  it  will 
wake  up  slumbering  Low-Churchmen;  and  if  he  is  acquitted,  it 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  303 

will  be  one  step  toward  delivering  us  from  that  ecclesiastical  mar- 
tinetism  which  would  make  a  man  answerable  with  his  life  for  a 
verbal  departure  from  a  formulary  prescribed,  while,  at  the  same 
time,  there  is  the  utmost  latitude  allowed  in  regard  to  postures, 
gestures,  and  costumes,  and  all  kinds  of  ceremonies,  and  greater 
still,  if  possible,  in  regard  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Gospel  to  be 
preached. 

"  I  am  glad  you  did  not  rise  and  rebuke  the  preacher  that  held 
forth  on  altars,  priests,  and  sacrifices.  Anything  of  the  kind  just 
now  would  not  add  to  the  strength  of  the  good  cause,  and  would 
have  confirmed  men  in  an  utterly  false  estimate  of  your  spiritual 
character.  You  have,  I  trust,  a  good  work  yet  to  do  in  the 
Church — the  Church !  and  I  am  unwilling  to  see  you,  by  anything 
that  is  not  clear  duty,  disqualify  yourself  for  it. 

"  With  affectionate  regards  to  Mrs.  H.,  and  the  girls  and  the  boys, 
I  am  ever, 

"  Truly  yours,  "W.  SPARROW. 

"  Rev.  J.  P.  Hubbard." 

The  allusion  in  one  of  these  letters  to  a  matter  now  too  well 
known  and  remembered,  the  trial  then  going  on  in  Illinois,  has,  in 
many  respects,  its  importance.  The  anticipation  as  to  the  ultimate 
consequences,  in  view  of  what  then  seemed  as  an  immediate  prob- 
able result,  has  been  strikingly  realized,  even  to  the  name  of  the 
new  organization.  It  shows,  too,  with  whom  the  writer  of  that 
letter  regarded  the  responsibility  of  these  troubles  as  ultimately 
resting.  His  own  relations  to  this  whole  matter,  as  to  the  different 
parties,  have,  in  some  respects,  been  misunderstood.  These  rela- 
tions were  simply  those  of  sympathy  with  a  brother  in  the  minis- 
try, formerly  a  pupil,  and  holding  the  same  views  as  himself,  in 
trouble,  upon  a  question  of  conscience.  This  trouble,  to  his  view, 
was  caused  through  a  straining  of  the  law  and  of  legal  principle, 
against  the  tenor  of  ordinary  practice  and  allowed  official  discre- 
tion, not  in  the  direction  of  mercy  and  forbearance,  but  in  that  of 
harshness  and  oppression.  In  other  words,  he  looked  upon  the 
prosecution  as  a  persecution.  The  harshness  of  this,  moreover, 
was  heightened  in  view  of  the  fact  that  it  was  thus  carried  on 
against  clergymen  of  one  school  of  theology  and  Church  views, 
upon  the  slightest  allegations  of  irregularity  in  rubric  and  ritual, 
while,  at  the  same  time,  the  most  startling  irregularities  of  a  dif- 


304  MEMOIR    OF 

ferent  school,  both  of  ritual  and  of  doctrine,  were  allowed  to  go  on 
without  rebuke.  Dr.  Sparrow  has  left  on  record  the  opinion  that 
the  act  in  question  was  not  properly  a  subject  of  discipline,  that  it 
was  really  within  the  limits  of  official  discretion.  This  opinion,  writ- 
ten at  the  time,  at  the  request  of  Dr.  Andrews,  whose  views  in  regard 
to  the  merits  of  the  case  were  somewhat  different,  is  here  given. 
It  was,  of  course,  not  prepared  for  the  press;  and  the  thoughts, 
rather  than  their  form,  were  his  object  in  its  preparation.  Whether 
assented  to  or  not,  it  will  make  manifest  his  position  with  reference 
to  the  whole  subject. 

"  When  Dr.  Cheney  was  tried,  condemned,  and  deposed,  because 
he  could  not  conscientiously  use  the  word  '  regenerate '  in  one  par- 
ticular place  in  the  Baptismal  service  for  Infants,  though  he  had 
used  it  everywhere  else  in  that  service,  and  did  not  otherwise  de- 
part from  the  prescribed  form ;  though  the  omission  no  way  affected 
the  validity  of  the  rite;  and  though  he  was  acknowledged  on  all 
hands  personally  sound  in  the  faith,  irreproachable  in  morals,  suc- 
cessful as  a  minister,  and  much  beloved  by  his  people ;  when  all 
this  took  place,  and  all  this  appeared,  every  impartial  person  in 
our  Church,  and  persons  that  were  not  impartial,  but  opposed  in 
their  opinions  to  Dr.  0.,  felt  that  the  whole  affair  looked  very  much 
like  a  piece  of  ecclesiastical  persecution,  and  in  their  hearts  de- 
spised the  instigators  of  the  proceeding.  But  while  the  movers  in 
this  matter  were  so  generally  condemned,  inside  and  outside  of  our 
Church,  the  employees,  on  the  other  hand,  were  approved,  or  at 
least  apologized  for. 

"It  was  said  that  the  man  ought  not  to  have  been  tried,  treated 
as  an  offender,  for  such  a  trifle;  but  that  once  brought  into  court  as 
a  reus,  on  the  charge  of  omitting  habitually  any  jot  or  tittle  in  the 
service  of  the  Prayer-book,  he  must  be  condemned.  Is  it  so  f 

"When  we  become  ministers  of  religion  we  bind  ourselves  by 
subscription  to  render  loyal  obedience  and  service  to  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church.  This  practice  of  subscription  we  derived  from 
our  Mother-Church  of  England. 

"There,  at  ordination,  ministers  used  to  make  three  distinct 
subscriptions,  viz.:  to  the  king's  supremacy;  to  all  and  singular  the 
Thirty-nine  Articles,  as  agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God ;  and  to  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer,  as  not  contrary  thereto.  But  in  the 
progress  of  time,  and  the  development  of  thought,  these  subscrip- 
tions came  to  mean  much  more  than  they  did  at  first,  and  couse- 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  305 

quently  began  to  gall,  in  some  respects,  the  conscience  of  men,  even 
of  those  who  were  and  felt  themselves  to  be  the  true  doctrinal 
descendants  of  the  framers  of  the  subscription  forms,  and  of  the 
documents  subscribed.  To  ease  the  consciences  of  such  men,  there- 
fore, it  was  felt  for  a  long  time,  and  by  many  persons,  that  something 
must  be  done.  At  length,  accordingly,  in  the  reign  of  William 
and  Mary,  it  was  proposed,  in  what  was  called  the  '  Comprehension 
Bill,'  to  substitute  for  the  old  threefold  subscription  a  simpler  form 
of  words,  viz.:  'I  do  approve  the  doctrine,  and  worship,  and  gov- 
ernment of  the  Church  of  England  as  by  law  established.'  Had 
this  bill  been  carried  through  there  is  no  knowing  what  good  it 
might  have  effected,  preventing  the  State  Church  from  becoming 
so  reduced  as  to  hold,  as  it  now  does,  only  a  '  divided  empire '  over 
the  nation.  We  American  Episcopalians,  at  least,  are  constrained 
to  think  it  would  have  been  a  wise  and  beneficial  measure,  judging 
from  subsequent  events,  for,  as  soon  as  we  in  these  American 
colonies  were  called  on  by  the  Revolution  to  organize  ourselves  as 
an  independent  Church,  we  at  once  adopted  the  liberal  and  conserva- 
tive subscription  which  the  authorities  of  the  English  Church  had 
rejected.  This  was  done  very  much  at  the  instance  of  Bishop 
White.  We  do  not  mean  by  his  personal  influence,  overbearing 
private  opinion,  for  it  was  only  in  harmony  with  the  prevalent 
sentiment  among  the  Episcopal  colonists  of  that  day.  He  was 
only  the  leader  of  a  willing  and  hearty  following.  In  the  Consti- 
tution of  our  Church,  where  the  requirement  and  form  of  clerical 
subscription  may  be  found,  the  person  about  to  be  ordained  is  made 
to  put  his  hands  to  these  words :  '  I  do  solemnly  engage  to  conform 
to  the  doctrines  and  worship  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
in  the  United  States.' 

"Thus  we  see  that  the  style  of  subscription  which  was  rejected 
by  the  authorities  of  the  English  Church  in  the  Seventeenth  cen- 
tury, was  adopted  by  us  at  the  beginning  of  our  history,  as  right 
and  expedient,  though  it  ought  to  be  added  that  that  Church  has, 
within  the  present  decade  of  years,  revised  and  corrected  her  own 
action  on  the  subject,  encouraged,  perhaps,  in  some  measure,  by 
our  example.  But  what  now  is  the  nature  or  import  of  this  change 
in  the  form  of  subscription,  for  we  cannot  suppose  it  nugatory.  In 
one  word,  it  was  relaxation.  It  was  meant  to  abate  stringency,  to 
enlarge  liberty,  to  lessen  compulsion,  to  widen  the  sphere  of  choice. 
It  was  felt  the  world  had  made  some  progress  in  the  previous  two 
20 


306  MEMOIR    OF 

hundred  years,  and  might  be  treated  as  a  little  further  advanced 

toward  its  majority,  especially  the  Christian  part  of  it,  and  of  the 

Christian,  especially  the  ministerial  part. 

'  "  Such  was  virtually  the  view  of  those  who  changed  the  form  of 
subscription.  Bishop  White,  when  asked  if  our  subscription  is  as 
stringent  as  that  of  the  English  clergy  used  to  be,  answered,  with 
a  vehemence  quite  unusual  with  him,  'God  forbid.'  He  clearly 
intimates  that  we  have  more  liberty  than  they  had.  But  we  need 
no  man's  opinion  here;  the  charge,  in  the  language,  speaks  for  itself. 
"  Now  the  relaxation  thus  granted  pertains  to  two  things,  doc- 
trine and  worship,  and  to  both  of  these  alike.  To  separate  them 
is  most  unwarrantable.  The  same  language  is  used  in  reference  to 
both.  Both  stand  in  the  same  construction.  That  the  old  strin- 
gency in  regard  to  doctrine  is  abated,  no  one  will  deny.  If  it  be 
not  abated,  then  the  whole  change  of  form  in  the  subscription  is 
idle  and  unmeaning,  yea  deceptive. 

.  "  Bishop  White  is  very  clear  on  the  point.  He  says  we  subscribe 
only  'for  substance  of  doctrine;'  and  distinctly  intimates  that 
Church  of  England  ministers  did  not  formerly  enjoy  the  same 
liberty.  If,  then,  there  is  relaxation  in  regard  to  doctrine,  is  there 
none  in  regard  to  worship  ?  Is  the  old  stringency  removed  in  the 
one  case,  and  not  removed  in  the  other?  Thus  to  separate  them  is 
an  unwarrantable  piece  of  arbitrariness,  which  would  not  be  tole- 
rated a  moment  in  legal  hermeneutics.  No  mere  exegete,  looking 
at  the  language,  would  say  that  any  distinction  could  be  justly 
made.  If  there  is  relaxation  in  regard  to  'doctrine,'  there  must 
be  also  in  regard  to  'worship.'  Besides  this  parallelism  between 
the  two  things  in  the  prescribed  form,  it  may  be  worth  while  to 
notice  that  one  manner  characterizes  the  process  of  the  change  in 
both  cases,  from  the  old  to  the  new  form.  In  regard  to  both,  the 
change  is  from  particulars  to  generals.  In  the  one  '  doctrine '  is 
substituted  for  the  'Thirty-nine  Articles;'  in  the  other  ' worship ' 
for  the  offices  of  the  Prayer-book.  By  this  altered  phraseology  we 
are  not  by  any  means  left  at  liberty  to  depart  from  the  doctrine  of 
our  Articles  or  from  the  worship  of  our  Liturgical  forms;  we  are 
still  held  to  the  'substance,'  in  each  case,  but,  nevertheless,  most 
indubitably,  a  liberty  is  conceded  to  the  consciences  of  individuals, 
which  was  not  accorded  under  the  old  form ;  unless,  indeed,  we  can 
suppose  the  Church  to  be  'keeping  the  word  of  promise  to  the  ear,' 
while  'breaking  it  to  our  hope.'  We  say,  be  it  observed,  '  the  con- 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  307 

sciences  of  individuals.'  The  relaxation  was  never  designed,  we 
maintain,  to  sanction  wanton,  frivolous  and  light-minded  departures 
from  things  established,  or  a  capricious  and  crotchety  disposition 
in  sacred  things.  It  was  designed  to  relieve  the  conscience,  when 
solemnly  pleaded  by  men  of  unimpeachable  character,  in  the  less 
important  points  of  doctrine,  and  in  the  minutiae  of  forms.  It  was 
not  to  give  unlimited  range  to  the  judgment,  as  to  what  is  expedi- 
ent, or  to  the  taste,  as  to  what  is  most  fitting.  That  '  doctrine ' 
and  'worship'  are  under  the  same  law  of  relaxation,  is  further 
manifest  from  the  relation  of  one  to  the  other.  One  cannot  be 
without  the  other.  How  shall  men  be  able  to  exercise  the  liberty 
wherewith  the  Church,  so  far  as  she  is  concerned,  has  set  them  free 
in  their  opinions,  if  they  are  compelled  in  every  jot  and  tittle  to 
use  the  same  language,  however  their  opinions  vary?  We  cannot 
believe  the  Church  would  have  a  man  in  words  say  one  thing, 
while  in  thought  he  is  saying  another.  She  does  not  require  her 
servants  thus  to  falter.  Nay,  she  must  desire,  above  all  things,  to 
have  those  who  minister  at  her  altars  stand  fair  with  their  own 
consciences  before  God  and  before  men.  She  must  desire,  above  all 
things,  to  see  in  them  'simplicity  and  Godly  sincerity,'  not  fleshly 
wisdom,  or  worldly  policy,  or  ecclesiastical  craft.  But  surely  her 
wishes  cannot  be  realized,  if  there  is  one  rule  for  the  man's  think- 
ing and  another  for  the  official's  saying*  We  conclude,  therefore, 
that  there  is  liberty  in  both  cases. 

"  Moreover,  is  it  not  passing  strange  that  liberty  should  be  ac- 
corded so  freely  in 'doctrine,'  and  that  it  should  be  practically 
exercised  to  such  an  extent,  that  men  may  believe  any  opinion 
almost,  if  only  the  Trinity  is,  retained;  and  yet  that  they  should  be 
bound  so  strictly,  have  their  feet  bound  so*  fast  in  the  stocks,  in 
regard  to  every  word  used  in  the  offices  of  the  Church?  Is  doc- 
trine of  so  little  importance  as  this?  Did  not  Christianity  begin 
with  doctrine?  Did  not  the  Master  say,  'To  this  end  was  I  born, 
and  for  this  cause  came  I  into  the  world,  that  I  might  bear  witness 
to  the  truth'  ?  Did  not  Christianity  appear-  among  men  first  of  all 
as  truth  preached ;  and  is  not  its  realization,  in  individual  souls  be- 
gun and  continued  to  the  end  in  the  reception  of  the  '  truth  in  the 
love  thereof?  Other  things  may  be  dispensed  with,  but  this  may 
not.  There  may  be  truth  where  Christianity  is  not,  but  there  can 
be  no  Christianity  without  truth ;  the  truth)  as  it  is  in  Jesus. 

"  Being,  then,  thus  vitally  important,  why  should  there  be  such 


308  MEMOIR    OF 

laxness  in  regard  to  the  language  of  truth,  and  at  the  same  time 
such  extreme  martinetism  in  regard  to  the  language  of  forms? 

"  This  disproportion  in  the  caution  exercised  in  the  two  cases  is 
a  striking  phenomenon ;  and  mischievous  withal ;  for  it  misdirects 
the  mind,  and  is  itself  a  great  untruth.  How  such  a  temper  and 
state  of  opinion  could  come  to  exist  is  a  question  which  might  lead 
to  curious  conclusions,  if  it  were  worth  while  to  pursue  it.  But 
this  by  the  way. 

"After  all,  however,  it  is  said  if  you  allow  the  omission  of  a 
word,  or  the  misplacing  of  a  point  in  the  use  of  a  liturgy,  on  the 
plea  of  conscience,  to  one  man,  you  must  allow  the  change  of  two 
words  to  another,  and  ten  to  a  third,  and  a  hundred  to  a  fourth, 
and  so  on;  whole  systems  of  forms  would  be  broken  down.  This 
plea,  doubtless,  influences  many,  and  is  with  them  a  sufficient 
apology  for  the  most  Draconian  spirit  and  conduct,  on  the  part 
of  ecclesiastical  prosecutors  and  courts.  Yet  it  is  utterly  delusive 
and  dangerous. 

"  In  the  first  place,  it  should  be  distinctly  understood  that  its 
purpose  is  unconstitutional ;  it  aims  to  take  from  us  a  liberty  which 
the  fundamental  law  of  the  Church  concedes  to  her  ministers,  when 
they  subscribe  with  a  view  to  ordination.  In  the  next  place  this 
plea,  in  the  spirit  of  it,  is  the  ostensible  motive  for  all  the  despotism 
ever  practiced  in  the  world,  whether  in  politics  or  religion.  No 
tyrant  ever  yet  curtailed  the  liberties  of  the  people,  except  on  the 
pretext  that  it  was  necessary,  to  prevent  anarchy.  But  there  is 
that  in  man,  as  a  few  have  long  known,  and  the  world  is  now  at 
length  discovering,  by  which,  when  duly  developed  by  education, 
he  may  be  governed,  without  being  enslaved.  And,  a  fortiori, 
there  is  that  in  the  Christian,  at  least  the  Christian  in  a  Church 
which  makes  the  Scripture  its  rule  of  faith  and  practice,  and  which 
consequently  must  have  attained  some  considerable  development, 
which  will  justify  such  Church  in  allowing  the  clergy  some  little 
liberty,  as  in  doctrine  so  in  forms,  for  the  relief  of  individual 
minds  when  harassed  by  conscientious  scruples;  for,  be  it  observed, 
it  is  for  conscience  only  we  plead,  not  for  mere  taste,  not  for  mere 
expediency,  not  for  whimsical  idiosyncrasy. 

"  In  the  third  place,  does  it  not  almost  look  like  an  affectation  in 
us,  when,  feeling  so  perfectly  secure,  as  we  seem  to  do,  against  the 
greater  peril  of  false  doctrine,  we  show  ourselves  so  terribly  appre- 
hensive that  if  a  man  is  left  silently  ;to  omit,  for  the  relief  of  his 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,    D.  D.  309 

conscience,  one  word,  in  one  place,  in  one  formulary,  the  result  will 
be  that  the  whole  liturgical  fabric  will  tumble  about  our  ears;  and 
therefore,  to  prevent  such  disastrous  consequences,  the  offender 
must  be  at  once  seized  and  ecclesiastically  put  to  death.  For 
surely,  if  there  is  anything  in  their  whole  system  which  has  made 
a  lodgment  in  the  affections  of  Protestant  Episcopalians,  it  is  their 
Prayer-book.  If  there  is  an  attachment  of  our  people  that  may 
be  relied  on  without  suspicion  or  fear,  it  is  their  attachment  to  the 
Liturgy ;  first  as  a  liturgy,  and  next  as  our  liturgy,  originated  by 
the  reformers  under  Edward  vi,  used  from  time  to  time  after- 
ward, and  so  transmitted  to  us  by  our  fathers  for  many  generations. 
Standing  on  its  own  merits,  and  used  in  its  own  spirit,  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer  has  never  occupied  a  tottering  position  in  the 
hearts  of  English  or  American  Episcopalians.  A  liturgy  will 
always  be  found  to  commend  itself  to  the  Christian  world  at  large, 
and  of  all  liturgies,  among  English-speaking  Protestants,  ours  is 
confessedly  the  best.  In  times  of  peace  there  has  been  no  lack  of 
love  and  reverence  for  it ;  on  the  contrary,  there  has  been  some- 
times an  excessive  devotion  and  deference  to  it.  Tractarians  and 
Eitualists  have  charged  Protestants  with  Bibliolatry;  liturgeolatry 
is  a  far  greater  and  more  probable  sin.  Of  this  liability  we  all 
partake,  and,  if  self-observant,  must  be  quite  conscious.  Things 
being  so,  how  comes  it  to  pass  that  we  cannot,  in  the  smallest 
degree,  confide  in  its  intrinsic  merits  to  protect  it,  but  put  it  into 
the  hands  of  the  clergy,  as  adults  would  put  a  delicate  and  pre- 
cious vase  of  exquisitely  wrought  glass  into  the  hands  of  little 
children,  watching  over  them  at  every  step,  and  chiding  them  lest 
they  let  it  fall  and  break  ? 

"  Made  use  of  by  us,  as  the  Prayer-book  is,  from  week  to  week, 
and  oftener ;  transmitted  to  us,  as  it  has  been,  by  our  ancestors  for 
many  generations  back ;  surrounded  with  associations,  ecclesiasti- 
cal, domestic,  and  personal,  of  deepest  interest;  familiar  to  our 
tongues  and  ears,  as  ministers  and  people,  from  early  childhood, 
and  incomparably  excellent  in  matter  and  manner,  as  we  maintain, 
fitting  into  all  the  demands  of  religious  human  life  with  wondrous 
judgment  and  good  taste,  and  commending  itself  to  all  as  a  vehicle 
for  the  expression  of  devout  affection,  never  yet  surpassed  by 
man ;  surely  we  might  practically  trust  it  a  little  to  the  keeping  of 
its  own  merits,  and  not  act  as  though  we  supposed  -it  could  not 


310  MEMOIR    OF 

stand  a  moment  on  its  own  foundation,  unless  propped  and  shored 
up  at  every  point  by  the  terrible  sanctions  of  penal  law. 

"But  still  the  old  objection  comes  back  upon  us,  'if  you  give  an 
inch  they  will  take  an  ell.' 

"Be  the  danger  even  so.  This  argument  has  been  already  met 
in  part.  To  guard  against  possible  evil,  shall  we  introduce  the 
spirit  and  practices  of  despotism  ?  But  further  and  more  directly : 
the  liability  to  evil  is  legislatively  allowed  to  exist  in  other  things 
in  which  men  claim  liberty  of  conscience,  and  speech,  and  action. 
For  example,  to  allow  us  any  liberty  of  speech  about  our  neighbor, 
is  to  expose  his  character  to  defamation,  yet  it  is  thought  best  it 
should  be  so.  Some  men  will,  indeed,  in  such  case  take  advantage 
of  this  liberty,  and  will  say  many  things  in  idle  gossip  which  they 
ought  not.  Yet  it  is  not  thought  wise  to  seal  up  men's  lips  alto- 
gether. It  is  deemed  best  to  let  the  danger  continue,  and  provide 
against  it  in  another  way.  When  the  resulting  evil  in  any  case 
becomes  serious,  the  matter  may  be  referred  to  the  courts.  Let 
the  judge  and  jury  between  them  determine  not  whether  the 
accused  is  a  discreet  man,  or  whether  he  spoke  rashly  with  his 
lips,  but  whether  he  was  guilty  of  the  malicious  uttering  of  false- 
hood, with  a  view  to  destroy  the  good  name  of  his  neighbor. 
Beyond  such  an  appeal  and  such  a  verdict  there  is  no  legitimate 
resort  in  this  world,  and  as  it  is  the  last  resort  of  the  individual, 
so  is  it  the  highest  protection  of  civil  society.  To  seek  any  higher 
or  more  effective,  is  to  forfeit  that  which  gives  to  society  all  its 
sweetness — liberty. 

"The  application  of  this  to  the  liberty  accorded  us  by  the  form  of 
our  clerical  subscription,  in  'doctrine  and  worship/  is  obvious. 
If  any  man  is  found  to  violate  the  measured  and  generalized  vow 
involved  therein,  let  him  be  called  solemnly  to  account,  and  made 
to  take  all  the  consequences  of  his  offence ;  but  let  him  not  be  tried 
by  the  court  so  assembled  upon  some  principle  totally  opposed  to 
the  terms  and  spirit  of  that  vow.  Let  it  not  be  said  that  they  are 
bound  to  bring  him  in  guilty,  if  he  be  found  deviating  from  the 
forms  a  hair's  breadth;  that  they  must  adhere,  in  their  judgment, 
to  the  minutest  letter,  though  it  be  a  letter  that  killeth,  and  that 
unreasonably  and  cruelly.  Let  it  rather  be  maintained,  and  that 
firmly,  that  there  is  a  liberty  secured  us  by  the  terms  of  our  sub- 
scription ;  that,  say  what  partisans  may,  conscience,  after  all,  is  a 
reality  with  some  men;  that  it  is  as  sacred  and  deserving  of  respect 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D. 

as  it  is  real ;  yea,  the  most  sacred  thing  about  man,  because  by  it 
he  comes  into  closest  communion  with  God ;  and  that  it  should  be 
presumed  to  exist  where  it  is  solemnly  asserted,  unless  the  general 
character  of  the  man  is  suspicious,  his  general  conduct  alien  from 
the  spirit  of  a  liturgical  Church,  and  the  liberties  taken  by  him 
reckless  and  not  for  self-relief,  but  manifestly  capricious,  disre- 
spectful to  our  ecclesiastical  peculiarities,  and  revolutionary. 

"Had  the  present  writer  been  a  member  of  the  court  which  tried 
Dr.  Cheney,  he  would  have  unhesitatingly  voted  for  his  acquittal, 
not  because  of  any  doubt  of  the  solitary  fact  laid  to  his  charge,  or 
because,  admitting  the  fact,  he  chose  to  lean  to  mercy's  side,  or 
because,  however  guilty,  it  was  inexpedient,  under  the  circum- 
stances ;  but  because  he  had  violated  no  law  of  the  Church,  and 
was  entitled,  by  the  terms  of  the  subscription  which  he  had  made  at 
his  ordination,  to  the  verdict  'Not  Guilty.'" 

The  views  thus  indicated  he  freely  expressed,  and,  as  opportunity 
presented,  used  such  means  as  he  possessed  to  remedy  the  evils 
already  produced,  and  to  avert  others  which  were  seen  to  be  in 
prospect.  To  one  or  two  petitions  to  the  General  Convention, 
having  these  objects  in  view,  he  appended  his  signature,  and  to  Dr. 
Cheney  himself  gave  expression  of  his  sympathy.  Nor  were  these 
views,  as  to  the  wrong  and  outrage  of  the  first  proceedings  on  the 
part  of  the  prosecution,  at  all  changed  by  the  subsequent  and 
peculiar  course  of  the  defendant.  These  two  issues  he  refused 
to  confound.  Whether  the  defendant,  in  this  case,  had  been  harshly 
and  cruelly  treated,  was  one  question.  Whether  his  course  subse- 
quent to  such  treatment  was  to  be  defended  or  imitated,  was 
another.  The  latter  of  these  questions  was  one  comparatively  of 
very  slight  importance.  The  former,  as  constituting  a  precedent, 
which  might  work  infinite  trouble  and  mischief,  was  that  which 
specially  claimed  his  regard  and  attention.  And  it  was  to  him  a 
matter  of  amazement,  the  perfect  apathy  with  which  this,  the 
main  and  absorbing  issue,  by  the  great  body  of  the  clergy,  was  met 
and  put  aside;  the  disposition  to  forget  and  lose  sight  of  it  entirely 
in  the  other  and  subordinate  issue,  which  had  to  do  with  only  one 
of  its  consequences,  and  that  not  the  most  important.  It  will  be 
seen  from  the  above  letter  that  he  anticipated  such  consequences, 
and  others,  which  have  since  made  their  appearance.  How  strongly 
that  letter  of  1869  reads  in  the  light  of  events  now  in  1875  !  And 


312  MEMOIR    OF 

yet,  human  nature  being  as  it  is,  how  could  anything  very  different 
be  anticipated  ? 

But  we  turn  to  another  and  a  more  grateful  topic.  Juat  after  the 
close  of  the  Council  of  1871,  and  while  the  session  of  the  Seminary 
was  still  going  on,  a  movement,  under,  it  is  believed,  the  suggestion  of 
Cassius  F.  Lee,  Esq.,  was  made  among  the  pupils  of  Dr.  Sparrow, 
having  in  view  provision  for  another  voyage  across  the  Atlantic. 
This  was  successful;  and  with  a  grateful  appreciation  of  the  feelings 
by  which  it  was  dictated,  he  began  to  make  his  preparations  for 
departure.  The  change  and  relaxation  involved  were  of  a  kind 
especially  likely  to  prove  beneficial,  and  he  thankfully  availed 
himself  of  the  opportunity  for  them  which  had  been  afforded. 

With  a  few  characteristic  letters  of  this  period  we  bring 
this  chapter  to  its  close.  The  titles  and  contents  of  these  letters 
contain  their  own  explanation.  One  of  them,  to  the  students  of  the 
classes  of  1871,  we  are  sure  will  be  read  with  interest  and  pleasure, 
not  only  by  those  to  whom  it  was  originally  addressed,  but  by  many 
others  of  his  pupils.  It  constitutes  an  exhibition  of  the  feelings  of 
interest  and  affection  with  which  he  regarded  those  who  came 
under  his  instruction,  and  it  helps  to  explain  the  warmth  of  affection 
with  which  those  feelings  were  reciprocated. 

To  A  CANDIDATE  FOR  THE  MINISTRY  AT  THE  UNIVERSITY. 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  January  29,  1870. 
"  MY  DEAR  F.:— 

"  You  may  well  think  it  strange  I  have  not  written  you  ere  this, 
especially  as  I  asked  you  to  write  me,  and  I  think  promised  a  reply. 
My  excuse  is,  much  work,  little  strength,  and  of  late  rather  serious 
sickness. 

"The  account  you  have  given  of  yourself  is  very  interesting  to 
me.  I  have  felt  some  little  anxiety  lest  you  should  attempt  too 
much.  Whilst  there  are  some  who  will  do  nothing,  the  fault  of 
our  times,  amongst  those  who  are  really  disposed  to  do,  is  that  they 
often  overburden  themselves  and  are  in  too  great  a  hurry.  We 
should  not  'haste'  to  be  learned,  any  more  than  'to  be  rich.'  It 
comes  of  evil  and  leads  to  evil.  It  is  really  injurious  to  the  discipline 
of  the  mind,  for  which  the  knowledge  acquired  is  no  compensation ; 
and  then  it  is  likely  to  interfere  with  the  paramount  interest  of  life, 
the  care  of  the  soul.  This  with  the  Christian  is  first,  is  last,  is 
everything,  whether  at  home  or  abroad,  in  business  or  at  college. 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  313 

Some  pleasing  and  instructive  illustrations  of  this  idea  are  found  in 
John  Newton's  correspondence  with  Dr.  Buchanan,  while  the  latter 
was  pursuing  his  studies  at  Cambridge. 

"I  am  pleased  to  learn  you  have  joined  the  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association  at  the  University,  and  pray  you  may  be  strength- 
ened and  helped  along  in  the  divine  life  by  such  intercourse.  If 
it  should  help  you  to  sanctify  wholly  the  Lord's  day,  that  alone 
will  be  an  immense  blessing  to  body,  mind,  and  spirit.  A  holy  Sab- 
bath is  quite  as  necessary  to  the  student  as  the  mechanic,  while  the 
obligation  to  observe  it  is  far  greater,  seeing  the  student  may  be 
presumed  to  have  more  knowledge  of  God's  will  in  the  matter. 

"Since  I  am  in  the  way  of  giving  hints  just  now,  let  me  further 
suggest  that  you  do  not  study  for  the.  diploma.  The  world  seldom 
asks  to  see  the  "sheepskin; "  but  they  expect  to  see  in  the  minister 
discipline  of  mind  and  an  adequate  store  of  knowledge,  and  finding 
these  they  are  content,  as  they  may  well  be!  This  thought  is  in 
harmony  with  the  suggestion  about  haste.  It  helps  to  make  us 
value  the  present,  to  improve  the  present,  to  enjoy  the  present. 
The  exercise  is  sweet  and  the  acquisition  precious  in  and  of  them- 
selves, and  for  that  reason  have  a  more  beneficial  and  more 
permanent  effect  upon  the  mind.  But  enough.  All  things  remain 
here,  I  believe,  pretty  much  as  you  used  to  see  them,  or  if  there 
have  been  any  changes,  doubtless  you  have  been  apprized  of  them. 
My  dear  F.,  let  me  say,  I  take  a  deep  interest  in  you,  as  my  dearest 
friend's  son,  as  a  Christian  youth,  and  as  a  Christian  youth  looking 
forward  to  the  ministry  as  the  business  of  your  life;  and  that  the 
Lord  may  have  you  in  his  holy  keeping  and  sanctify  all  your 
attainments,  and  prepare  you  in  body,  soul,  and  spirit  for  this  high 
calling,  is  and  shall  be  the  prayer  of, 

"  Yours  affectionately,  W.  SPARROW." 

To  KEY.  J.  P.  HUBBARD. 

"  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  March  28,  1871. 
"REV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER: — 

"Ever  since  you  sent  your  last  contribution  to  the  Seminary, 
there  has  been  lying  on  my  portfolio  a  half-finished  letter  to  you. 
Being  interrupted  in  the  writing,  I  have  left  it  unfinished  to  this 
hour,  and  now  replace  it  by  a  letter  de  novo.  Even  this  ought  to 
have  been  written  and  sent  off  long  ago,  or,  at  least,  since  the 
arrival  of  Mr.  E.  I  ought  to  add,  that  even  before  your  money- 


314  MEMOIR    OF 

letter  arrived  I  had  been  ineffectually  purposing  to  write  to  you. 
I  had  begun  to  feel  a  strong  desire  to  know  how  the  Lord  was 
dealing  with  you  and  yours.  For,  silent  or  not,  be  assured  I  ever 
think  of  you  all  with  true  affection. 

"Mr.  E.  has  taken  hold  of  study,  and,  so  far  as  I  can  learn,  is 
quite  contented  in  his  new  position.  To  one  who  has  lived  always 
at  the  North,  a  residence  down  here  must  be  a  great  change.  But 
all  the  more  beneficial ;  it  must  help  to  cure  narrow-mindedness,  to 
which  we  are  all  so  prone. 

"  We  were  all  pleased  to  find  you  remembered  the  old  Seminary, 
and  felt  a  disposition  to  send  us  men  as  well  as  send  us  money. 
Would  that  the  tide  which  once  set  in  this  direction  from  the  North 
might  so  set  again !  Our  number  has  been  less  this  year  than  last ; 
but  we  have  got  along,  with  a  fair  share  of  the  Divine  presence 
and  blessing  among  us.  I  think  that  there  has  been  much  search- 
ing of  heart  among  many  of  our  students,  which  I  trust  will  result 
in  making  many  of  them  able  ministers  of  the  New  Testament.  Of 
course,  we  feel  the  influence  of  the  prevailing  sentiment  in  our 
Church.  It  is  like  a  malarious  atmosphere,  and  all  have  to  breathe, 
and  some  are  affected  by  it,  but  they  are  only  a  few,  and  I  trust 
that  some  of  these  will  have  such  principles  lodged  in  them  as  will 
lead  them  hereafter  to  slough  off  the  evil  influence. 

"  Cheney's  case  has  troubled  me  much.  It  is  terrible  to  be  made 
an  offender  for  a  word,  to  the  degree  of  forfeiting  a  man's  clerical 
standing,  and  that  a  word  which  is  in  no  way  essential  to  the  rite, 
which  comes  after  the  rite  is  performed,  which  is  omitted  for  con- 
science sake,  which  was  omitted  quietly,  without  any  bravado  or 
desire  for  notoriety.  May  God  in  infinite  mercy  bring  good  out  of 
this  evil ! 

"  I  deeply  regretted  I  did  not  visit  you  last  summer.  I  wasted 
my  vacation  in  heat  and  inactivity  at  home.  If  I  am  spared  till 
next  summer,  I  shall,  Deo  volente,  make  you  a  visit;  and  if  I  can 
induce  you  to  accompany  me,  I  may  be  disposed  to  go  to  Canada, 
and  visit  Quebec  and  Montreal,  which  places  I  have  never  seen. 

"  I  have  entered  on  my  seventy-first  year,  and  it  behooves  me 
not  to  calculate  far  ahead,  nor  count  with  any  confidence  on  the 
accomplishment  of  such  little  plans.  There  is  another  journey 
before  me  which  must  soon  be  taken ;  may  the  Saviour  be  my  com- 
panion to  help  and  cheer. 

"With  kindest  regards  to  Mrs.  H.  and  all  the  family, 

"  Your  affectionate  brother,  W.  SPARROW." 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.D. 

Acknowledgment  of  present  of  a  study-lamp  from  the  students, 
as  a  token  of  their  esteem  and  affection,  on  his  seventieth  birthday : 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINAKY,  March  12,  1871. 
"  MY  VERY  DEAR  BRETHREN  : — 

"  This  evening,  as  I  returned  from  tea  to  my  study,  I  found  a 
student's  lamp  burning  brilliantly  upon  my  table.  I  was  bewil- 
dered. Old  men,  as  you  know,  are  given  to  'waking  dreams,' 
'brown  studies,'  'hallucinations/  and  all  manner  of  absences  of 
mind;  and  I,  therefore,  began  to  question,  asking,  '  Am  I  awake?' 
I  had  left  my  study  a  short  time  before,  and  nothing  of  the  kind 
was  to  be  seen.  In  my  confusion  I  overlooked  the  card  which  was 
fixed  to  the  lamp,  and  hurried  back  to  the  tea-room  to  get  an  ex- 
planation. I  saw  at  once  they  were  all  in  the  secret,  and  as  much 
delighted  as  I  was  bewildered.  I  was  taken  back  to  the  study  and 
shown  the  card  which  I  had  overlooked:  'From  the  students.' 

"  Dear  brethren,  from  none  on  earth  could  such  a  token  of  good- 
will have  come  so  acceptably  as  from  you.  I  accept  it  with  an 
overflowing  heart,  and  with  thankfulness  to  you  and  our  common 
Father  in  heaven.  Your  kind  wishes  cheer  me  at  this  important 
crisis  of  my  life.  May  your  gift  be  to  me  a  token  of  what  I  ought, 
above  all  things,  seek  as  a  man,  and  as  a  functionary,  namely, 
LIGHT,  especially  as  it  comes  from  Him  who  is  the  light  of  the 
soul,  and  'the  light  of  the  world.'  Ever,  affectionately, 

"  Your  friend  and  servant,  WM.  SPARROW." 

Within  a  week  or  two  after  the  close  of  the  session,  the  Doctor 
sailed  for  Europe,  spending  the  vacation  in  Ireland  and  England, 
with  a  brief  visit  to  Paris.  With  some  of  the  particulars  of  this 
journey  we  shall  be  occupied  in  the  next  chapter. 


316  MEMOIR    OF 


CHAPTER    IX. 

TOUR  TO  EUROPE  —  DEATH  —  CONCLUSION. 

The  tour  across  the  Atlantic,  extending  through  vacation  and  into 
a  few  weeks  of  October,  was  confined  to  Ireland  and  England,  with  a 
short  visit  to  Paris.  The  first  part  of  the  visit  was  to  Dr.  Sparrow's 
relations  in  Ireland,  where  he  found  an  aunt,  one  of  the  sisters  of 
his  mother,  more  than  fourscore,  still  living,  but  whose  death  took 
place  within  the  next  two  years.  After  remaining  with  these  a  few 
weeks,  he  went  over  to  London  and  Paris,  and  returned  to  Ireland, 
on  his  way  homeward.  He  seems  to  have  failed  in  finding  suitable 
companions  for  a  more  extended  tour  in  Europe,  the  state  of  his 
health,  moreover,  making  it  undesirable  that  he  should  be  sub- 
jected to  special  exertion.  One  or  two  letters  to  friends  on  this  side 
the  Atlantic,  as  also  a  few  written  from  this  country  on  his  return, 
and  within  the  next  two  years,  to  his  relatives  in  Ireland,  are  here 
inserted.  They  afford  information  as  to  his  movements,  as  also  in 
regard  to  the  feelings  with  which  he  revisited  the  scenes  of  early 
life,  and  contemplated  some  of  the  localities  coming  under  his 
observation.  The  last  of  these  letters,  that  to  Ireland  in  1873, 
taken  in  connection  with  the  circumstances  which  called  it  forth, 
as  of  those  at  that  time  of  the  writer  himself,  is  exceedingly  touch- 
ing and  beautiful.  The  "home  feelings"  of  which  he  speaks,  for 
that  home  above  to  which  he  was  so  very  near,  were  manifestly 
strong  and  increasing. 

Preceding  these  is  a  brief  letter  from  Ireland,  written  in  1874, 
by  one  of  his  relatives,  descriptive  of  his  arrival  and  intercourse 
with  them: — 

"On  the  26th  of  July,  1871,  at  an  early  hour,  we  were  surprised 
by  a  visit  from  your  father.  He  was  stopping  at  the  Shelborne 
Hotel,  in  Stephen's  Green,  having  arrived  there  the  day  before  from 
Cork,  where  he  had  landed  from  New  York.  We  induced  him  to 
leave  the  hotel  and  come  and  stay  with  us.  This  he  accordingly 
did  in  the  course  of  the  day,  and  remained  with  us  till  the  eleventh 
of  August,  when  he  started  for  London.  He  remained  there  some 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,   D.  D.  317 

time,  and  then  visited  Paris  in  company  with  a  friend  he  met  in 
London.  He  returned  to  us  on  the  twenty-first  of  September,  to 
Sandymount,  a  pretty  locality  about  two  miles  from  Dublin,  facing 
the  sea,  where  we  had  taken  lodgings  for  the  benefit  of  my  mother's 
health.  But  his  sojourn  with  us  was  but  short,  as  on  the  twenty- 
seventh  he  left  by  rail  for  Killarney,  which  he  wished  to  see.  From 
there  he  went  to  Cork,  where  he  embarked  for  New  York. 

"  During  his  visit  to  us  your  father  went  by  rail  to  visit  Gorey, 
in  hopes  of  meeting  some  acquaintances  of  early  days  and  reviving 
the  memory  of  old  localities.  The  localities  were  there,  but  most 
of  the  acquaintances  were  gone." 

"DUBLIN,  July  31,  1871. 
"  MY  DEAR  ME.  LEE: — 

"After  having  communicated  with  my  family,  my  first  debt  in 
letter- writing  is  due  to  you.  I  arrived  in  Cork  on  the  15th,  after  a 
pleasant  enough  voyage,  if  any  voyage  can  be  pleasant.  It  was  ten 
days  long,  nearly,  almost  entirely  by  steam,  the  winds  being  light 
and  not  favorable.  It  was  a  very  uneventful  passage.  We  were 
two  Sundays  on  board,  and  had  the  morning  service  of  the  Church 
of  England,  by  the  Captain.  Such  is  the  law  of  the  Cunard  line. 
He  manifestly  knew  more  of  navigation  than  Liturgies!  From 
Cork  I  came  directly  here;  and  from  here  I  have  been  to  Gorey, 
the  scene  of  my  boyhood,  and  walked  the  streets  unknowing  and 
unknown.  Of  course  the  visit  was  sad  and  even  solemn,  but  I 
hope  it  has  proved  salutary.  At  least  it  ought.  It  was  comfort- 
ing to  see,  there,  and  in  all  the  country  I  passed  through  by  rail 
from  Cork  to  Dublin,  a  manifest  and  great  improvement  in  the  con- 
dition of  the  people.  Of  course  every  inch  of  land  is  cultivated, 
and,  what  I  did  not  look  for,  they  are  introducing  our  agricultural 
implements.  The  tenements  of  the  poor  are  much  improved ;  they 
are  better  clad,  and  mendicancy,  which  used  to  sadden  every  bene- 
volent heart,  and  disgrace  the  land,  is  very  much  diminished.  I 
speak  only  of  the  parts  I  have  been  in.  I  include  Dublin,  where  I 
am.  Dublin,  you  know,  has  no  commerce  or  manufactures  worth 
speaking  of.  After  the  Union  in  1801,  when  it  lost  its  Parliament, 
of  course  it  declined ;  but  they  say  it  is  reviving.  It.  is  a  beautiful 
city,  and  where  not  beautiful,  solid  and  substantial.  It  was  greatly 
moved  yesterday  by  a  visit  from  the  Prince  of  Wales,  and  other  mem- 
bers of  the  Eoyal  family,  including  the  Marquis  of  Lome  and  his 


318  MEMOIR    OF 

royal  wife.  There  was  a  fair  show  of  Irish  enthusiasm.  As  they 
passed  by  the  College  Green  (where  I  stood),  moving  at  a  trot,  pre- 
•  ceded  by  a  squadron  of  cavalry,  and  sitting  in  open  barouches,  they 
received  a  most  enthusiastic  cheering.  How  much  heart  was  in  it 
would  be  difficult  to  say.  I  fear  there  is  a  growing  desire,  even 
among  Protestants,  for  a  restoration  of  their  lost  legislative  powers, 
and  what  that  would  lead  to  it  is  hard  to  say. 

"  I  have  formed  no  very  definite  plans  of  travel  yet.  My  only 
desire  in  that  line  was  to  visit  Rome  and  Naples,  but  I  fear  that 
cannot  be  accomplished.  I  shall  go  this  week  or  next  to  London ; 
and  from  there  may  go  on  the  Continent.  I  hope  my  health  is 
improving.  I  certainly  am  not  oppressed  with  heat.  Except  yes- 
terday, it  has  rained  every  day  since  I  came  on  the  coast.  It  is, 
indeed,  a  land  of  rains  and  showers,  alternating  rapidly  with 
gleams  of  sunshine.  If  we  had  so  much  rain,  our  roads  would  be 
impassable,  but  the  roads  here  are  all  macadamized  with  the  finest, 
i.e.,  the  smallest  stone,  and  hard  and  smooth,  and,  therefore,  only 
washed  by  the  showers.  The  perfection  of  the  roads  is  the  best 
feature  of  Ireland. 

"  Though  only  three  weeks  since  I  left  my  home,  it  really  seems 
a  very  long  time.  Constant  change,  great  distance,  and  novelty  of 
appearance,  all  unknown  to  Seminary  life,  make  me  feel  as  if  it 
were  a  year  since  I  left  the  '  Hill.'  However  much  further  I  may 
go,  or  whatever  I  may  see,  I  expect  to  experience  nothing  so  much 
to  my  mind  as  what  our  country,  and  especially  our  Seminary  life, 
furnishes.  We  see  and  complain  of  the  defects  of  our  government 
and  country,  and  they  are  not  a  few,  but  really,  if  they  would  only 
not  grow  and  increase,  but  remain  as  they  are,  nothing  to  be  seen 
this  side  the  water  is  to  be  compared  to  what  we  have  at  home. 
There  is  an  independence  and  individuality  in  society  among  us 
which  seems  infinitely  precious,  in  view  of  the  air  of  courtly  senti- 
ment and  dependence  which  you  see  in  the  papers,  and  notice  in 
the  tone  of  conversation.  Spokes  in  a  wheel  do  not  look  more  and 
more  incessantly  to  the  hub,  than  do  thought,  and  language,  and 
expectation,  among  the  people,  to  the  government  and  the  Court. 

"I  am  staying  with  my  aunt,  an  old  lady  of  eighty-four,  or 
rather  with  my  cousin,  her  son,  who,  on  a  moderate  income,  lives 
here.  They  were  overwhelmed  with  surprise  when  I  came  in  upon 
them.  My  aged  aunt,  the  last  remnant  of  a  large  family,  could 
not,  for  some  time,  recover  herself  from  the  flood  of  feeling  occa- 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  319 

sioned  by  my  arrival.  My  mother,  her  sister,  died  more  than 
fifty  years  ago.  My  presence  brought  back  her  image,  and 
revived  other  recollections  buried  for  long  years.  If  you  should 
feel  disposed  to  write  me,  please  direct  to  care  of  Jay  Cooke, 
McCulloch  &  Co.,  41  Lombard  street,  London. 

"Remember  me  most  affectionately  to  Mrs.  Lee,  and  all  the 
'boys  and  girls.'  It  grieves  me  I  could  not  go  and  bid  them  good 
bye.  I  would  rather  have  omitted  any  other  visit. 

"  Ever  your  affectionate  friend,  W.  SPARROW." 

"DUBLIN,  August  2,  1871. 
"  MY  DEAR  J.:— 

"  I  received  your  letter  before  I  sailed,  and  thinking  you  would 
be  glad  to  hear  of  my  safe  arrival,  I  drop  you  a  few  lines.  I  left 
New  York  on  the  15th  ult.,  and  reached  Cork  and  Dublin  on  the 
25th.  I  am  staying  with  an  aged  aunt,  eighty-four  years  old,  or 
rather  with  her  son,  who  keeps  house,  and  with  whom  she  lives. 
He  studied  law,  but,  having  enough  to  live  on  decently  without 
labor,  does  nothing.  He  has  an  English  wife,  and  a  boy  about 
nine;  an  only  child. 

"  Ireland  is  wondrously  improved  since  I  left  it.  There  is  much 
less  poverty.  An  air  of  comfort  and  of  neatness  prevails,  not  seen 
formerly.  The  roads  are  admirable  everywhere.  You  see  none 
such  with  us,  except  in  the  suburbs  of  large  cities.  One  conse- 
quence is,  that  the  poor  can  make  use  of  donkeys.  Small  as  they 
are,  looking  like  rats,  they  carry  huge  loads.  In  our  roads  they 
could  not  drag  them  a  foot.  But  how  rainy  the  climate !  It  is 
shower  and  sunshine,  alternately,  all  the  time.  When  here  before 
I  used  to  joke  my  relatives,  saying  I  was  satisfied  it  rained  every 
day  in  the  year  here.  This  time,  it  has  rained  every  day  since  I 
arrived.  A  compensation  is,  perpetual  verdure  and  a  temperate 
climate.  It  is,  however,  too  temperate,  so  to  say,  for  me.  This 
city  is  at  this  time  greatly  moved  by  the  visit  of  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  Prince  Arthur,  and  the  Marquis  of  Lome  and  his  royal 
or  princely  wife.  Like  everybody  else,  I  have  seen  them  as  they 
rode  along  the  street;  but  that,  of  course,  is  all.  The  Marchioness 
is  the  favorite.  The  Irish  hope  the  Queen  may  marry  another  of 
her  daughters  to  an  Irish  lord  some  of  these  days. 

"  I  was  at  church  at  the  Cathedral  here  on  Sunday.  It  has  been 
renovated  at  the  expense  of  Guinness,  the  brewer,  whose  porter 


320  MEMOIR    OF 

and  ale  are  imported  among  us.  It  is  an  old  firm,  and  the  present 
head  of  it  has  a  baronetcy.  The  cost  of  the  improvements  was 
nearly  a  half  million  of  dollars.  It  is  a  noble  building,  full  of 
ancient  monuments.  A  modern  one  of  Archbishop  Whateley,  of 
course,  arrested  my  attention.  The  music  magnificent,  of  course, 
far  beyond  me.  Not  so  in  the  church  which  I  attended  in  the 
morning.  All  was  plain  and  proper,  with  an  extemporary  dis- 
course of  an  expository  nature.  Except,  of  course,  in  the  Cathe- 
dral, the  singing  in  the  Church  is  far  more  congregational  than 
with  us.  At  night  I  attended  lay  preaching  in  Merion  Hall.  A 
Mr.  Dewly  built  and  sustains  the  house  for  religious  and  benevo- 
lent purposes.  It  has  three  galleries  all  round.  The  preacher  on 
this  occasion  was  not  an  Irishman. 

"Let  me  say,  I  met  Mr.  D.  in  New  York  for  a  moment.  I  was 
pleased  with  the  account  which  he  gave  of  the  boys.  At  first  I  did 
not  know  it  was  Mr.  D.  the  teacher.  I  supposed  it  was  his  brother. 

"  I  must  conclude,  simply  adding,  I  shall  probably  go  to  London 
in  two  days.  Give  my  love  to  the  four  boys.  Let  me  have  your 
prayers.  I  am,  my  dear  John,  ever,  affectionately, 

"Your  father,  W.  SPARROW. 

"  Rev.  J.  A.  Jerome." 

"LONDON,  August  14, 1871. 
"  MY  DEAR  COUSIN  : — 

"  Have  I  or  have  I  not  written  you  since  my  arrival  here  ?  It 
may  seem  a  strange  question,  but  it  is  a  sincere  one.  You  and 
your  dear  family  have  been  so  much  in  my  thoughts  since  I  left 
you,  and  I  have  been  writing  home  so  much  since,  mentioning 
things  pertaining  to  you  and  yours,  and  have  so  firmly  resolved  to 
write  promptly  to  you,  and  I  have  thought  of  it  so  often  in  my 
wakeful  hours  at  night,  that  when  you  add  to  all  this  the  oblivion 
which  is  coming  over  me  by  reason  of  age,  you  need  hardly  wonder 
that  I  stand  in  doubt  whether  this  will  not  prove  a  'crambe 
repetita.'  Still,  it  can  do  no  harm. 

"  My  passage  across  was  smooth,  for  the  Channel  was  as  a  mill- 
pond.  I  was  recognized  on  board  by  a  clergyman  of  New  York, 
who  had,  when  young,  been  to  my  house  with  a  common  friend, 
with  whom  he  was  traveling.  To  my  grief  we  parted  at  Chester. 
I  am  now  lodging  in  2  Euston  Square.  I  was  recognized  through 
the  window  by  another  New  Yorker  before  the  door  was  opened ! 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,    D.  D.  321 

This,  also,  was  an  agreeable  surprise.  I  am  pleased  with  my  abode, 
only  the  company  is  so  intensely  worldly.  It  is  a  terrible  thing 
for  men  to  live  only  to  themselves,  and  to  make  number  one  the 
object  of  all  they  think,  and  say,  and  do,  eating,  drinking,  sleeping; 
excesses  of  all  kinds  and  the  uses  of  remedies  for  these  excesses ; 
excitement  and  ennui  rapidly  alternating;  no  high  thoughts;  no 
benevolent  plans  and  doings;  what  a  condition  for  an  immortal 
creature !  And  how  inane  the  conversation  of  such  people ;  con- 
certs, plays,  and  the  news  of  the  day,  these  constitute  the  pabulum 
by  which  their  souls  are  fed.  Oh,  how  I  long  for  the  quiet, 
rational,  Christian  converse  I  enjoyed  under  your  roof!  But  all 
this  is  vain. 

"  Yesterday  I  went  to  St.  Alban's  and  the  Tabernaole.  What  a 
contrast !  The  one  all  form,  and  show,  and  superstition ;  the  other, 
life,  power,  truth,  practicalness.  I  hoped  to  hear  Maconochie,  but 
was  disappointed.  I  heard  a  Mr.  Angel.  Is  he  the  angel,  one 
is  tempted  to  ask,  who  '  preached  another  gospel '  ?  It  was  extem- 
poraneous, and  he  tried  to  be  animated;  but  what  a  jumble  of 
doctrine,  not  only  inconsistent  with  the  New  Testament,  but  with 
himself.  As  to  Spurgeon,  do  not  let  folk  delude  you  into  the  idea 
that  he  is  a  common  man,  or  that  his  preaching  is  vulgar  clap-trap. 
I  venture  to  say  that  there  is  not  another  man  in  this  city  that 
could  hold  so  intelligent  an  audience  as  he  had  yesterday,  spell- 
bound as  we  were,  for  so  long  a  time.  From  my  heart  I  thank 
God  that  He  has  raised  up  such  a  man  to  do  His  work.  Spurgeon 
is  a  great  blessing  to  this  city;  such  a  city  needs  such  a  man.  Do 
sublime  cathedrals,  with  their  sublime  worship,  make  religion,  to . 
say  the  least,  respectable  in  the  world?  Much  more  does  such  a 
man  make  it  respected.  People  carry  home  from  such  preaching 
impressions  and  ideas  which  are  remembered  in  daily  duty,  at  the 
fireside  and  in  the  shop.  But  I  can  say  no  more.  If  I  were  with 
you,  I  should  delight  to  make  verbally  a  full  report  of  that  won- 
derful man's  performance.  I  shall  expect  a  line  in  answer,  telling 
me  of  your  country  trip.  Give  my  love  to  my  cousin,  and  tell  her, 
though  our  acquaintance  was  so  short,  it  is  very  precious  and  ever 
to  be  remembered.  Let  S.  have  a  full  share  of  my  regard ;  and 
for  his  sake  I  even  send  a  greeting  to  Midge.*  Name  me  with  true 
affection  to  all  at  Molesworth  Street. 

"Ever  your  affectionate  cousin,  WM.  SPARROW." 

*  The  pet  dog  of  S.,  the  little  son  of  Mr.  Q. 
21 


322  MEMOIR    OF 

"2  EUSTON  SQUARE,  LONDON,  August  19,  1871. 
"My  DEAR  AUNT  MINA: — 

"I  have  just  received  a  very  welcome  letter  from  John  Henry, 
and  feel  disposed  to  answer  it  by  a  line  to  you.  I  have,  indeed, 
nothing  special  to  communicate.  Though  professedly  a  traveler,  I 
have  no  adventures  to  record.  I  came  here  a  week  ago  last  night, 
but  there  has  been  little  to  distinguish  one  day  from  another. 
Still,  it  is  pleasant  for  me  to  write,  if  I  can  only  thereby  convey  to 
you  the  profound  satisfaction  with  which  I  made  my  visit  to  Dub- 
lin, and  talked  with  the  sister  of  my  dear  mother,  whose  memory, 
after  fifty  years,  is  still  fresh  and  precious.  If  ever  youth  loved 
his  mother,  I  did ;  and  though  I  was  not  permitted  to  spend  the 
last  two  years  of  her  life  with  her,  nor  to  be  present  at  her  death, 
yet  that  affection  lived  on,  and  endeared  to  me  every  one  connected 
with  her ;  so  that  now  in  my  old  age  I  still  cling  to  my  Irish  kin- 
dred. Among  them  all,  of  course,  you  stand  first.  My  remem- 
brance of  you,  as  a  young  lady  in  Gorey,  is  still  distinct  and  vivid  ; 
I  saw  you  in  the  Isle  of  Man,  in  1838,  in  Dublin,  in  1848,  and  now 
again  I  have  been  permitted  another  interview,  when  both  of  us 
are  well  advanced  in  years,  and  can  never  expect  to  meet  again  in 
this  world.  Well,  dear  Aunt,  what  a  blessed  thing  there  is  another 
world,  where  the  friends  of  Jesus  will  meet  again  after  the  separa- 
tion of  death,  a  world  where  all  tears  will  be  wiped  from  all  eyes. 
Oh,  why  is  it  that  we  do  not  more  thoroughly  comfort  ourselves 
with  this  reflection ;  and  rest  in  faith,  and  hope,  and  love,  and  joy, 
on  the  rich  promises  given  us  through  grace  in  the  Word  of  God ! 
.  "  It  is  a  great  pleasure  to  me  to  reflect  that  you  are  so  pleasantly 
situated  in  the  evening  of  your  days,  and  that  you  have  a  sou  and 
daughter  so  gratified  to  minister  to  your  comfort ;  and  a  grandson, 
by  his  mercurial  temper,  to  keep  you  and  his  parents  constantly  on 
the  'qui  vive!'  . 

"  When  I  get  home,  if  it  pleases  God  to  restore  me  to  my  own 
family,  I  shall  write  John  Henry,  and  tell  him  how  I  have  fared. 
At  present,  I  stand  in  doubt  whether  I  shall  go  on  the  Continent  or 
not.  Having  been  there  before,  not  feeling  strong  and  enterpris- 
ing, and  finding  no  companion,  I  am  indisposed  to  go  further  than 
through  the  British  Islands,  or  even  through  them  fully. 

"And  now,  my  dear  Aunt,  I  must  bid  you  farewell.  Let  me 
have  your  prayers  that  I  may  finish  my  course  with  joy.  That 
the  Lord  may  bless  you,  and  keep  you;  that  He  may  make  His 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  323 

face  to  shine  upon  you,  and  be  gracious  with  you ;  that  He  may  lift 
up  the  light  of  His  countenance  upon  you  and  give  you  peace,  now 
and  forever,  is  the  prayer  of 

"  Your  affectionate  nephew,  W.  SPARROW. 

"  P.  S.     Love  to  all  under  your  roof,  and  at  Molesworth  Street. 

"W.  S." 

"  LONDON,  September  12,  1871. 
"MY  DEAR  MR.  LEE: — 

"  As  my  trip  is  drawing  to  a  close,  I  feel  disposed  to  drop  you  a 
line.  I  received  your  letter  in  due  time,  and  cordially  thank  you 
for  it.  The  news  it  conveyed  was  very  acceptable.  Since  the 
receipt  of  it  I  have  been  over  to  Paris,  just  to  see  the  havoc  made 
by  Prussian  invasion  and  Communal  insurrection,  the  last  inex- 
pressibly the  worst.  It  was  sad  indeed  to  see  the  ruins ;  but  far 
sadder  still  to  see  the  moral  condition  of  the  people.  I  was  there 
on  a  Sunday.  The  calendar  told  me  it  was  Sunday,  but  little  else 
besides.  I  went  to  the  American  Episcopal  Chapel  in  the  morning, 
heard  a  good  sermon  from  some  Englishman,  and  partook  of  the 
Lord's  supper.  Thence  I  went  to  Notre  Dame,  where  they  keep 
up  the  celebration  of  the  Mass,  one  celebration  after  the  other,  on 
Sundays.  It  was  painful  to  see  Christianity  so  caricatured.  The 
marchings  and  counter-marchings  by  boys  and  men,  in  gorgeous 
dresses,  and  carrying  lights,  were  endless.  But  St..  Alban's,  in  this 
city,  is,  on  a  small  scale,  a  close  imitation.  I  also  went,  in  Paris, 
to  the  Madelaine,  a  famous  chapel  of  the  Roman  Catholics,  and 
heard  a  French  priest  hold  forth  in  a  sermon.  In  all  these  churches 
the  chief  worshipers  were  the  women.  I  tried  to  get  into  the 
Greek  church,  but  failed.  But  in  reference  to  the  great  mass  of 
the  people,  it  is  a  godless  city.  It  is  painful  to  think  it  should 
boast  itself  (and  all  the  world  should  virtually  sanction  the  boast) 
of  being  the  most  civilized  spot  in  the  world.  Polished  it  is,  but 
oh,  how  much  rottenness  beneath !  There  is  but  one  object  of  pur- 
suit, that  is,  pleasure;  and  one  object  of  worship,  that  is,  man. 
You  have  seen  the  confession  of  Favre,  I  suppose ;  counted  one  of 
the  best  of  their  public  men.  But  I  only  took  my  pen  to  let  you 
know  about  my  return.  I  do  not  expect  to  leave  before  the  28th. 
I  shall  then,  Deo  volente,  sail  in  the  Atlantic,  from  Liverpool.  I. 
may  cross  over  to  Dublin  again,  and  see  once  more  in  the  world  ray 
Irish  relatives,  and  thence  proceed  to  Queenstown,  and  embark 


324  MEMOIR    OF 

there.  I  hope  nobody  will  censure  me  for  extending  my  time 
of  absence  so  far.  I  am  anxious  to  get  the  benefit  of  this  climate 
as  long  as  possible.  It  has  certainly  been  a  service,  to  spend  the 
last  two  months  where  there  has  been  no  sun  to  oppress  me  with 
its  heat.  Providence  has  hung  a  very  thick  awning  between  the 
English  and  Irish  people  and  that  luminary.  As  to  sight-seeing,  I 
have  had  enough  of  it  long  ago.  I  have  sent  you  a  few  news- 
papers; I  hope  you  have  got  them.  I  send  you  The  Times  to-day. 
Please  remember  me  affectionately  to  Mrs.  Lee  and  all  the  family, 
to  Drs.  Packard  and  Walker,  and  theirs,  and  to  the  three  brethren 
in  Alexandria.  I  am,  dear  sir, 

"  Ever  truly  yours,  W.  SPARROW. 

"To  C.  F.  Lee,  Esq.,  Akxandria,  Fa.,  U.  S.  A." 


"LONDON,  September  16,  1871. 
"  REV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER  : — 

"I  confess  this  is  very  much  pro  forma.  I  cannot,  however, 
permit  it  to  be  said  that  I  have  never  written  to  yourself  or  Dr.  P. 
during  my  whole  absence.  I  write  to  save  appearances,  nothing 
more.  I  have  had  for  pretext  that  you  both  were  absent  from 
home,  especially  Dr.  P. ;  and  for  reason,  my  good-for-nothingness, 
and  the  fact  that  I  have  had  no  startling  adventures  by  flood  or 
field,  and  no  interesting  incidents  of  social  life  to  record.  I  came 
for  health  alone,  and  I  soon  saw  that  it  was  by  no  means  conducive 
to  that  end  to  be  traveling  much  and  far  without  some  one  to  bear 
the  burden  of  a  '  commissioner '  for  me.  I  spent  a  fortnight  in 
Ireland,  and  am  going  back  to  spend  a  last  week  there,  meeting 
the  steamer  at  Queenstown  on  the  way  to  the  United  States.  The 
few  incidents  of  these  periods  and  the  interval  we  shall  talk  of 
when  we  meet. 

"I  have  just  written  a  letter  to  go  with  this  to  Dr.  P.,  expressing 
my  regret  that  I  could  not  be  with  you  at  the  beginning  of  the 
term,  and  also  my  hope  that  you  will  be  strict  at  the  examinations. 
Few  things,  in  my  humble  judgment,  tend  more  to  sustain  the 
reputation  of  the  Seminary,  and  to  make  the  students  patient  for  a 
long  term  of  study  and  submission  to  rules  of  all  kinds,  than  to 
show  them  their  ignorance  and  make  them  feel  it.  It  is  especially 
important  in  regard  to  our  preparatories. 

"The  Atlantic  steamer  is  to  sail  from  Liverpool  on  the  28th 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,   D.  D.  325 

instant,  and  I  expect  to  join  her  at  Queenstown  on  the  day  following. 
Let  me  have  your  prayers  for  a  propitious  voyage. 

"  With  kind  regards  to  all  your  family, 

"  Your  friend  and  brother,  "W.  S. 

"Eev.  C.  Walker,  D.  D" 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  FAIRFAX  Co.,  VA., 

"October  18,  1871. 
"  MY  DEAR  COUSIN  : — 

"  It  is  time  that  I  let  you  know  how  a  kind  Providence  has 
dealt  with  me  since  we  parted.  We  parted  Wednesday,  27th  ult. 
That  day  I  got  to  Killarney,  in  company  with  the  very  pleasant  gen- 
tleman whom  I  found  in  the  coach  at  the  station,  a  Mr.  M.,  I  think 
a  lawyer  of  that  city,  and  one-  of  the  commissioners  with  Master 
Brooke  and  others  on  Church  affairs.  The  next  day  I  viewed  the 
Lakes,  and  in  the  evening  reached  Queenstown  about  midnight, 
not  finding  a  resting-place  for  the  sole  (or  soal)  of  my  foot  in  Cork, 
by  reason  of  the  races.  So,  Friday  I  embarked  on  board  of  the 
Atlantic,  about  two  o'clock,  and  found  my  young  friend  Roper,  and 
four  Episcopal  clergymen  and  two  Presbyterians !  That  day  we 
had  a  fine  run,  but  after  that,  for  two  days  and  a  night,  we  had  a 
heavy  gale,  in  which  two  of  our  ten  boats  were  driven  from  their 
fastenings,  and  five  of  our  sailors  disabled,  one  by  the  fracture  of 
his  skull,  another  of  his  thigh,  another  of  his  arm,  and  so  on.  It 
was  an  anxious  time ;  but  the  Lord  delivered  us  from  all  our  fears. 
The  anxiety  of  the  passengers  was  increased  by  the  extreme  length 
of  the  vessel,  by  her  having  a  flat  bottom,  by  the  new  construction 
of  her  engine,  and  by  the  fact  that  she  had  never  experienced  bad 
weather  before.  Our  winds  were  ahead  almost  all  the  time,  so 
that  we  did  not  reach  New  York  till  Tuesday,  the  10th  inst.,  about 
the  same  hour  I  sailed  from  Queenstown.  To  my  delight,  dear 
Dudley  D.  Smith  was  on  the  wharf  to  receive  me  and  help  me 
through  the  Custom  House.  The  next  day  I  spent  in  New  York, 
and  the  day  after  set  out  for  home,  not  stopping  in  Baltimore, 
though  the  General  Convention  was  sitting,  and  though  I  had 
children  and  grandchildren  in  the  city.  I  was  in  my  perihelion 
and  could  not;  the  centripetal  force  was  too  strong.  I  arrived  at 
home,  in  the  evening ;  one  of  my  married  daughters  had  left  in  the 
morning  of  that  day.  However,  Ma  and  Frances  were  at  home, 
and  quite  ready  to  make  me  welcome. 


326  MEMOIR    OF 

"  I  preached  last  Sunday.  It  was  very  pleasant  after  a  silence 
of  three  months.  (I  declined  preaching  on  ship-board.)  It  was 
pleasant,  too,  to  be  greeted  by  so  many  pleasant  faces,  and  warm 
hand-grasps.  I  am  now  engaged  in  my  daily  routine  of  duty.  I 
will  scarcely  have  finished  this  before  the  bell  will  summon  me  to 
two  hours'  duty. 

"And  now,  my  dear  cousin,  having  indulged  in  these  egotistical 
details,  let  me  hope  that  they  will  reach  you  in  good  health.  You 
have  long  since  returned  to  Harcourt  Terrace.  I  trust  my  dear 
aunt  has  recruited  her  strength,  and  that  you  all  feel  prepared  to 
.enjoy  the  blessings  and  discharge  the  duties  of  life.  I  feel  truly 
thankful  that  I  have  been  permitted  to  see  you  in  the  flesh  once 
.more.  The  recollection  of  my  visits  to  Dublin  will  brighten  many 
an  hour,  and  furnish  many  a  topic  of  conversation  at  the  fireside. 
My  heart  overflows  with  love  to  you  all,  and  prayers  for  God's 
blessing  on  you.  Write  me  soon. 

"Your  affectionate  cousin,  W.  SPARROW. 

"J.  H.  Going,  Esq.,  Dublin" 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  July  8,  1873. 
"MY  DEAR  COUSIN: — 

"  The  first  glance  of  your  letter  told  its  tale  to  me.  Every  let- 
ter received  from  you  since  I  left  Ireland,  I  conceived  might  bring 
tidings  of  my  dear  aunt's  departure.  Well,  the  mystery  of  life 
is  ended  for  her.  She  has  reached  a  world  of  light  and  peace. 
Oh,  how  dark  a  thing  death  would  be,  but  for  the  good  hope  which 
Christ  imparts,  both  in  reference  to  ourselves  and  those  we  love. 
Thanks  be  to  God,  who  giveth  us  the  victory  over  this  fear,  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord!  One  of  the  advantages  I  find,  connected 
with  the  removal  of  those  we  love,  is  that  it  helps  to  create  a  home 
feeling  in  regard  to  the  other  world,  and  to  wean  us  from  this. 
Our  home  is  wherever  those  we  love  abide.  This  land  has  been  a 
home  to  me,  and  Ireland  has  been  a  home  to  me,  and  often  so 
called,  because  it  has  been  the  residence  of  dear  relations;  but,  as 
these  relations  have  been  steadily  passing,  for  the  last  sixty  years 
of  my  remembrance,  from  both  continents  to  a  yet '  better  country ' 
than  either,  why  should  not  our  hearts  find  a  home  with  them 
there  also?  There  is  nothing  to  prevent  it  but  that  fear  of  death 
from  which  Christ  came  to  relieve  us,  that  lack  of  spirituality 
which  He  gives  His  Spirit  to  supply.  Let  us  pray  for  one  another, 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  327 

dear  cousin,  that  when  our  hour  comes  we  may  feel  we  are  going 
home. 

"  I  am  glad  to  hear  you  and  M.  J.  and  S.  are  in  good  health. 
Should  the  death  of  my  dear  aunt  make  any  change  in  the  mode 
of  your  life,  I  hope  you  will  inform  me.  I  am  rejoiced  to  learn 
that  Mr.  M.  is  going  to  be  relieved  of  the  Post  Office.  I  hope  it 
will  not  be  attended  with  any  unpleasant  straitening  of  his  circum- 
stances. Kemember  me  affectionately  to  him  and  all  the  family. 

"  I  got  the  papers  you  sent  me,  and  read  them  with  much  inter- 
est. With  you,  I  was  annoyed  at  the  position  taken  by  some  who 
were  deemed  pillars  among  you.  I  thought  very  considerable 
ability  was  displayed  in  the  discussions,  and  that  the  laity  displayed 
more  zeal  and  knowledge  in  these  matters  than  the  same  class 
would  have  done  among  us.  But  that  fundamental  regulation  of  a 
two-thirds  vote  of  both  orders,  as  necessary  to  the  carrying  of  any 
important  point,  was  suicidal.  You  are  organizing  as  an  independ- 
ent, disestablished  church,  but  the  spell  of  the  Establishment  is 
upon  you.  Hinc  illse  lacrymae. 

"  You  speak  of  my  work.  I  have  lectured,  since  my  sickness, 
but  three  times  a  week,  for  five  or  six  weeks.  It  is  now  vacation 
with  us,  and  will  be  till  the  24th  of  September.  The  Board  that 
rules  this  Institution  have  been  very  kind  in  lightening  my  bur- 
dens, and  providing  for  my  lack  of  service.  My  family  consists  of 
myself,  dear  invalid  F.,  a  housekeeper,  and  a  maid  and  man-ser- 
vant, with  occasional  visits  from  my  distant  children.  The  duties 
of  those  who  live  far  off  do  not  allow  their  visiting  us  often  or 
long.  If  I  could  be  in  the  midst  of  my  children,  it  would  lessen 
the  loneliness  of  my  feeling.  But,  thank  God,  I  can  in  some  com- 
forting measure  believe  it  is  all  for  the  best. 

"  With  much  love  to  M.  J.  and  S.,  and  hoping  to  hear  from  you 
in  due  time,  I  am  truly, 

"  Your  affectionate  cousin,  W.  SPARROW. 

"  John  Henry  Going,  Esq.,  10  Harcourt  Terrace,  Dublin." 

During  this  tour,  the  death  of  the  Hon.  Thomas  Sparrow,  the 
youngest  brother  of  the  Doctor,  took  place  in  Ohio.  It  was  very 
sudden,  and  its  occurrence  formed  an  element  of  sadness  connected 
with  his  absence  from  home.  In  all  other  respects  his  journey 
appears  to  have  given  him  great  gratification.  Soon  after  his 
return  home,  if  not,  in  fact,  just  as  he  was  returning,  he  ascer- 


328  MEMOIR    OP 

tained  that  pleasant  arrangements  might  have  been  made  by  which 
he  could  have  had  a  more  extended  visit  to  the  Continent.  Per- 
haps it  was  better  that  this  was  not  known  earlier,  and  his  visit 
thus  confined  to  more  familiar  localities,  those  connected  with  early 
and  affectionate  association. 

The  return  home  was  during  the  session  of  the  General  Conven- 
tion, that  year  held  in  Baltimore.  He  did  not,  however,  stop,  pass- 
ing through  on  his  way  home  from  New  York.  The  session  of  the 
Seminary  had  already  opened,  and  he  was  anxious  to  get  under 
way  with  his  work.  If  present  at  the  Convention  at  all,  therefore, 
it  was  only  for  a  few  days  toward  its  close.  Basing  his  expecta- 
tions upon  the  action  and  the  material  of  the  preceding  Convention 
of  1868,  he  did  not  anticipate  a  great  deal  from  this  of  1871.  He 
was  not,  therefore,  greatly  surprised  or  disappointed  at  the  failure 
to  pass  a  canon  against  ritualism,  and  he  was  not  at  all  hopeful  as 
to  the  effects  of  the  Declaration  in  regard  to  the  Baptismal  service. 
To  the  writer,  as  to  others  who  were  expressing  their  gratification 
and  their  hope  that  something  had  been  gained  by  it  to  the  cause 
of  truth  and  sound  doctrine,  he  expressed  himself  to  the  effect, 
that  so  far  as  regarded  the  peace  of  the  Church  and  the  relief  of 
perplexed  and  tender  consciences,  it  left  the  difficulties  just  where 
they  were,  and  that  after  a  momentary  lull  these  difficulties  would 
again  be  making  their  appearance.  The  practice,  moreover,  of 
settling  questions  of  doctrine  and  ritual  by  an  authority  extra- 
legal,  not  by  the  whole  Church  in  its  representative  action  through 
all  its  orders,  but  by  the  act  of  one  of  those  orders,  the  Episcopate, 
he  deprecated  as  wrong  in  principle,  and,  as  a  precedent,  full  of  mis- 
chief. His  views,  in  regard  to  the  difficulties  involved  in  the  use 
of  certain  forms  of  expression  in  the  Prayer-book,  had  been  given 
not  long  before,  in  connection  with  a  tract  on  "  Komanizing  Germs/' 
which,  in  its  publication  had  been  productive  of  angry  controversy. 
The  paper  in  which  those  views  were  presented  it  has  been  impos- 
sible to  recover.  Indeed,  it  is  not  at  all  improbable  that  it  was 
destroyed,  at  the  time  of  the  sudden  death  of  the  lamented  author  of 
the  tract,  to  whom  it  was  sent.  But  as  those  views  were  expressed 
at  the  time,  in  other  words,  they  may  here  be  briefly  indicated. 

"  The  Prayer-book,  as  a  whole,  and  interpreted,  as  to  its  par- 
ticulars, by  its  leading  principles,  is  thoroughly  Protestant.  It 
contains  and  exhibits  a  certain  system  of  doctrinal  truth;  a  sys- 
tem which,  whatever  may  be  said  of  exceptional  inconsistencies, 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,    D.   D.  329 

apparent  or  real,  is  that  of  the  leading  English  Reformers  of  Ed- 
ward and  Elizabeth,  of  those  in  the  Lutheran  and  Reformed 
Churches  on  the  Continent,  as  of  the  Evangelical  portion  of  the 
Church  of  England  and  of  our  Church  in  this  country  at  the  present 
time.  But,  like  all  the  works  of  man,  the  Prayer-book  is  not  per- 
fect. It  bears  upon  its  face,  to  the  intelligent  reader,  traces  of  the 
process  through  which  it  reached  its  present  form.  And  while,  as 
a  whole,  and  in  its  controlling  principles,  it  is  Protestant  and  Evan- 
gelical, it  has  expressions,  particularly  some  put  in  by  later  re- 
visers, not  thoroughly  in  sympathy  with  the  first  Reformers  of 
Edward  and  Elizabeth,  which  are  not  perfectly  in  accord  with  this 
general  system  of  the  book,  and  which,  if  taken  by  themselves, 
would  only  lead  astray.  Some  of  these  admit  of  explanations 
which  make  them  congruous  with  the  whole  book.  Others,  at  the 
time  of  their  first  usage,  were  harmless,  and  had  not  the  significance 
which  they  have  acquired  under  the  light  of  subsequent  discussion. 
And  others,  again,  as  familiar  expressions  in  forms  of  devotion,  and 
upon  the  principle  of  making  no  unnecessary  changes  (as  capable 
of  a  Protestant  meaning),  were  allowed  to  remain.  But  there  they 
are,  whatever  the  explanation  of  their  presence.'  And  this  is  their 
relation  to  the  whole  book,  to  its  general  tenor,  its  Protestant, 
Evangelical,  organic  structure. 

"  Indicated  in  these  facts,  we  have,  first,  a  principle  of  interpreta- 
tion; secondly,  a  practical  and  consistent  course  of  action.  The 
principle  of  interpretation  is  that  the  homogeneous  general  tenor 
must  control  the  exceptional  and  heterogeneous  particular.  The 
course  of  action  is  frankly  to  admit  the  existence  of  any  such  incon- 
sistency, whether  real  or  apparent,  and  make  effort  to  get  rid  of  it. 
In  the  meantime,  and  until  such  effort  prove  successful,  the  book 
is  ours.  We  are  the  true  representatives  of  the  men  who  drew  it 
up,  and  may,  therefore,  consistently  use  it,  even  when  seeking,  by 
all  lawful  means,  to  remove  from  it  everything  that  is  or  seems 
like  an  inconsistency.  As  one  mode  of  securing  these  results,  we 
should  insist  upon  alternate  forms,  such  as  may  relieve  perplexed 
and  weak  consciences,  consciences  offended  and  disturbed,  not  by 
the  general  tenor  of  the  book,  but  by  these,  its  exceptional  parti- 
culars." 

The  substance  of  the  opinion  thus  given  was  stated  by  Dr. 
Sparrow  to  the  writer,  immediately  after  its  preparation,  with  the 
further  statement  of  the  circumstances  calling  it  forth,  and  his 


330  MEMOIR    OF 

object. in  writing  it.  The  above,  of  course,  is  only  an  outline.  As 
it  was  communicated  with  an  unusual  degree  of  particularity,  and 
portions  of  it  discussed  at  the  time,  the  account  of  it  is  believed  to 
be  substantially  correct.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  his  object,  with 
one  class  of  Evangelical  men,  was  to  show  that,  without  any  sacri- 
fice of  principle,  they  could  continue  the  use  of  the  Prayer-book. 
Affectionately  sympathizing  with  this  class,  and  fully  realizing  their 
difficulties,  those  especially  connected  with  known  perversions  of 
certain  portions  of  the  Prayer-book,  he  did  not  recognize  in  those 
difficulties  a  sufficient  cause  to  stop  any  one  in  his  work.  At  the 
same  time,  in  opposition  to  another  class,  of  the  same  school  of 
theology  and  Church  sentiment,  he  was  not  content  to  abide  in  this 
condition ;  to  remain  satisfied  with  the  continued  existence  of  these 
offences  and  causes  of  stumbling.  Truth  and  principle,  in  his 
view  of  it,  required  that  the  real  facts  of  the  case  should  be  hon- 
estly recognized,  and  frankly  admitted;  and  that  unintermitting 
effort  should  be  made,  until,  in  some  mode  or  other,  relief  in  the 
matters  complained  of  could  be  obtained.  The  mode,  in  all  respects, 
of  such  effort  he  did  not  undertake  to  point  out.  But  he  had  a 
strong  assurance  that  if  those  with  whom  he  sympathized  in  theo- 
logical and  ecclesiastical  opinion  proved  true  to  their  principles, 
that  is,  to  those  embodied  and  set  forth  in  the  general  tenor  of  the 
Prayer-book,  there  could  be  but  little  doubt  of  their  ultimate  success. 

Cognate  in  subject  with  the  above  is  a  letter  to  one  of  his  pupils, 
here  appended,  and  written  about  the  same  time.  His  views  of  the 
perverting  influences  of  the  doctrine  alluded  to  are  brought  out 
more  fully  in  the  Commencement  Address  of  1869. 

Apart,  moreover,  from  its  sacerdotal  connections,  this  opinion  was 
one  to  which  he  was  repugnant  upon  other  accounts ;  especially  in 
view  of  its  tendency  to  foster  a  spirit  of  narrow  denominationalism,  to 
tempt  men,  even  of  Protestant  and  Evangelical  views,  in  our 
Church,  to  indulge  in  feelings  of  alienation  and  contempt  toward 
ministers  and  members  of  non-Episcopal  Churches.  The  great 
principle  of  his  sermon  to  the  Virginia  Convention  in  1845,  "  Grace 
be  with  all  that  love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity,"  was  one 
in  regard  to  which  he  felt  very  deeply.  Everything  seeming  to 
limit  or  oppose  that  principle  he  regarded  with  suspicion;  and 
when  such  opposition  became  clearly  manifest,  he  strenuously  op- 
posed it.  The  letter  which  follows  will  indicate  his  position  in 
reference  to  this  particular  form  of  erroneous  doctrine. 


WILLIAM    SPAR  ROW,   D.  D.  331 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  January  9,  1872. 
"  MY  DEAR  BROTHER  : — 

"  In  reply  to  your  welcome  letter,  I  hardly  know  what  to  say  that 
will  quite  meet  your  wants.  I  know  of  no  work  written  by  an 
Episcopalian  against  the  figment  of  'tactual  succession;'  as,  indeed, 
I  know  of  none  but  Haddan's,  a  recent  publication  in  England,  in 
favor  of  it.  Besides  these,  Powell  and  Boardman,  non-Episcopa- 
lians, have,  I  think,  written  about  the  '  Apostolical  Succession,'  so 
called,  and  against  it.  Most  of  the  matter  on  the  subject,  both  pro 
and  con,  is  to  be  found  scattered  up  and  down  in  larger  works,  on 
other,  and  it  may  be  larger  topics.  Thus  you  will  find  in  Goode's 
Rule  of  Faith  and  Practice  a  very  excellent  discussion  of  Apostol- 
ical Succession,  as  far  as  it  goes.  It  is  quite  enough  to  convince 
any  one  that  unbroken  tactual  succession  cannot  be  shown  to  be 
essential ;  and  that  it  was  not  so  regarded  in  primitive  times ;  was 
practically  disregarded  and  so  far  condemned  in  the  very  promi- 
nent Church  of  Alexandria,  from  the  time  of  St.  Mark  till  the 
Nicene  Council.  It  will  be  found  in  Goode's  eighth  chapter.  Tur- 
retin's  Theology  contains,  also,  something  -upon  it. 

"  The  whole  theory  is  an  assumption,  for  which  the  general  mind 
has  been  prepared  by  centuries  of  Sacerdotalism  and  priestly  domi- 
nation, and  which,  being  once  approved,  the  general  mind,  from  a 
mistaken  conservatism,  is  afraid  to  give  up ;  especially  as  it  seems 
to  be  countenanced  by  'as  my  Father  hath  sent  me.'  Just  as 
Transubstantiation  is  favored  by  'This  is  my  body.'  People  do  not 
stop  to  consider  the  consequences  of  their  doctrine ;  nor  how  incon- 
sistent it  is  with  some  of  the  first  principles  of  the  Gospel ;  nor 
how  subversive  of  the  whole  Reform  movement ;  nor  what  rigidly 
precise  doctrines  they  are  building  on  expressions  of  the  most  gen- 
eral character,  like  those  of  our  Lord  here  quoted. 

"  Neither  do  men  consider  how  superfluous  this  theory,  except 
upon  the  principle  that  the  ministry  is  the  conduit — the  personal 
conduit — through  which  grace  flows  to  guilty  man.  If  we  are  ap- 
pointed simply  to  teach  and  rule  in  the  house  of  God,  unbroken 
digital  succession  is  like  a  wind-mill  in  a  cave,  or  a  water-mill  in  an 
arid  desert,  as  a  necessary  thing.  Succession  is  everywhere  in  hu- 
man affairs,  and  everywhere  valued  in  one  form  and  another.  In 
the  monarchs  of  England  and  the  Presidents  of  the  United  States, 
succession  is  valued  as  a  conservative  expedient,  but  not  as  an 
essential  element  of  social  order  and  real  government.  The  sue- 


832  MEMOIR    OF 

cession  has  been  changed  in  the  land  of  our  fathers,  but  it  did  not 
cease,  therefore,  to  be  a  nation,  nor  its  rulers  a  government.  And 
so  unbroken  continuity  is  not  necessary  in  the  Church  of  Christ; 
though  it  ought  not  causelessly  be  broken.  In  telegraph  wires 
there  must  be  no  break;  but  grace  is  not  electricity;  and  as  to 
authority  and  instruction,  they  can,  for  they  have  been,  used  and 
maintained  in  other  ways. 

"  But  I  must  stop.  I  am  glad  to  see  that  you  are  aware  of  the 
danger  of  this  doctrine.  Many  Evangelical  men  are  weak,  and 
wavering,  and  inconstant,  from  not  perceiving  it.  I  would  encour- 
age no  man  to  enter  the  ministry  of  our  Church  with  such  notions 
in  his  head.  His  proper  home  is  some  ecclesiastical  enclosure  into 
whose  title  the  term  Protestant  does  not  enter. 

"Affectionately  your  friend  and  servant,  W.  S. 

11  Rev.  C.  C.  Penick" 

"  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  December  23,  1871. 
"My  DEAR  J.:— 

"I  regretted  much  I  did  not  see  you  on  my  return  home,  and 
have  a  talk  with  you  about  the  boys,  and  your  parish,  and  your 
diocese,  and  your  church  at  large.  I  rejoice  that  you  did  not  get 

Dr. for  your  Bishop.     As  to  the  effect  of  the  Convention,  I 

could  not  give  you  my  thoughts  in  the  space  of  a  letter.  No 
denomination  in  Christendom  is  so  anomalously  situated  as  ours. 
But  there  is  no  wood  from  which  there  is  no  issue.  What  the 
finale  here  is  to  be,  it  is  hard  to  conjecture.  But  the  state  of  things 
is  such  that  our  manifest  duty  is,  leaving  events  in  God's  hands, 
and  doing,  also,  ecclesiastically,  whatever  our  hand  findeth  to  do, 
to  give  ourselves  to  the  proper  work  of  the  ministry,  preaching 
Christ,  and  making  prayer  and  supplication  for  all  men.  Labor  of 
this  kind  can  never  be  lost. 

"  I  am,  my  dear  J.,  ever, 

"Your  affectionate  father,  WM.  SPARROW." 

As  already  mentioned,  the  studies  of  the  session  of  1871-2  were 
so  arranged  that  Dr.  Sparrow  had  only  one  recitation  daily,  and 
for  the  first  five  months  he  was  enabled  to  go  on  in  his  work  effi- 
ciently and  comfortably.  About  the  middle  of  February  he  was 
taken  with  a  deep-seated  cold,  and  confined  to  his  chamber  for 
several  weeks.  As  the  months  of  spring  drew  on  he  slowly  recov- 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  333 

ered ;  but  had  scarcely  gotten  into  his  study  and  at  his  recitations, 
when  he  received  a  terrible  shock  in  the  sickness  of  Mrs.  Spar- 
row, and  the  development  of  its  character,  as  disease  of  the  heart. 
She  had  been  a  sufferer  for  years,  but  no  serious  disease  was  sus- 
pected, and  the  announcement  of  the  nature  of  her  attack  was 
very  greatly  a  surprise.  Soon  after  this  announcement  the  attack 
became  very  severe,  for  several  days  so  alarmingly  serious  that  the 
Doctor  was  afraid  to  leave  the  house  long  enough  for  service  or 
recitation,  and  on  one  occasion,  after  having  ventured  to  meet  a  class, 
was  called  home  by  a  sudden  change  which  threatened  a  fatal  ter- 
mination. It  is  with  feelings  of  peculiar  interest  and  gratification 
that  the  writer  can  look  back  to  his  visits  to  the  Doctor's  study  during 
this  hour  of  his  trial;  that  he  can  recall  the  deeply  solemnized  yet 
acquiescent  spirit  with  which  he  awaited  the  Divine  dealings.  Be- 
yond his  expectations,  he  was  for  a  time  spared  from  the  impending 
trial.  After  some  five  or  six  weeks  Mrs.  Sparrow  again  rallied, 
and,  although  still  very  much  an  invalid,  was  enabled  to  resume 
many  of  her  household  duties.  Of  course,  there  was  always,  after 
this,  the  knowledge  and  depressing  conviction,  from  the  nature  of 
her  disease,  that  it  might  at  any  moment  reach  its  termination.  Of 
this,  however,  for  the  next  eight  or  ten  months,  there  was  no  imme- 
diate threatening. 

These  two  things  together,  the  sickness  of  Mrs.  Sparrow  and  his 
debility  from  his  own  attack,  prevented  his  attendance  upon  the 
Diocesan  Council,  held  this  year  in  Norfolk.  The  Board  of  Trus- 
tees, at  their  meeting  during  this  Council,  added  another  professor, 
the  Rev.  Dr.  McElhinney,  to  the  Faculty.  This  made  the  tempo- 
rary arrangement,  by  which  Dr.  Sparrow  had  been  relieved  in  the 
department  of  Evidences,  a  permanent  one.  At  the  same  time,  it 
took  a  weight  of  anxiety  from  his  mind,  as  to  the  going  on  of  the 
work  of  the  Seminary  in  case  of  his  own  sickness  or  departure. 
By  the  first  of  June  he  seemed  to  be  restored  to  his  usual  condition 
of  health,  and  was  thus  enabled  to  prepare  and  deliver  the  address 
at  the  Commencement.  This  address,  entitled  "Our  Times  and 
Our  Duties,"  like  that  of  1869,  was  immediately  asked  for  publica- 
tion by  alumni  and  clergy  present.  Its  closing  sentences,  the  last 
in  which  their  author  came  before  the  Church  and  the  world,  are 
peculiarly  characteristic : — 

"  I  have  done.  I  have  said  what  I  have  said,  first,  of  course, 
because  I  believe  it  true ;  secondly,  because,  as  I  think,  it  is  not 


334  MEMOIR    OF 

untimely  on  an  occasion  like  this;  thirdly,  because,  if  true,  it  is  im- 
portant truth;  and  lastly,  because  it  is  not  proclaimed  by  those 
who  hold  it  as  often  as  it  should  be.  If  I  am  not  mistaken  on 
these  points,  then  I  would  humbly  ask  God  to  add  His  blessing  to 
what  has  been  said,  for  Christ's  sake.  Amen." 

Most  of  the  vacation  following  this  address  was  spent  at  home. 
A  visit  of  a  few  days,  soon  after  the  next  session,  1872-3,  com- 
menced, was  made  to  New  York,  to  the  meeting  of  the  Evangelical 
Societies.  It  involved  but  a  few  days'  deviation  from  the  ordinary 
round  of  Seminary  life  and  duty.  This  was  characterized  by  very 
little  change  of  any  kind  for  the  first  six  months  of  the  session. 
With  the  arrangement  of  studies  already  mentioned,  the  Doctor 
was  enabled  to  go  on  quite  comfortably,  taking  his  time  for  preach- 
ing in  the  ordinary  course,  as,  also,  in  the  Thursday  evening 
meetings.  His  health  seemed  to  be  very  much  as  it  had  been  for 
several  years  previous ;  in  one  most  important  respect  it  was  better 
than  at  an  earlier  period.  He  was  very  little  troubled  with  the 
dyspeptic  headaches  from  which  at  Gambier,  and  during  his  early 
residence  in  Virginia,  he  had  been  so  great  a  sufferer.  He  was 
disturbed  during  these  later  years  more  through  want  of  comfort- 
able sleep,  the  sleep  of  natural  and  refreshing  rest.  His  usual 
complaint  was  as  to  his  head,  and  he  often  expressed  the  wish, 
after  a  night  of  disturbed  or  uncomfortable  sleep,  that  he  could 
have  the  professional  knowledge  which  would  enable  him  to  under- 
stand the  exact  nature  of  his  ailment.  This,  however,  did  not  seem 
to  affect  his  general  spirits,  or  his  efficiency.  These  remained  the 
same,  and  the  promise  of  work  at  the  beginning  of  the  session  was 
quite  as  favorable  as  at  any  time  since  the  close  of  the  war.  Indeed, 
the  relief  afforded  by  the  addition  to  the  Faculty  seemed  to  give 
more  life  and  vigor  to  his  exertions. 

A  letter,  at  this  point,  properly  comes  in,  which  has  its  interest, 
in  connection  with  an  exciting  issue  presented  within  the  next 
twelve  months,  by  the  movement  of  Bishop  Cummins.  Postponing 
the  subject  of  Dr.  Sparrow's  relations  to  that  movement  until  it 
comes  up  in  the  order  of  time  for  its  consideration,  the  letter  is 
here  inserted,  as  showing  the  feelings  and  views  with  which  a 
question  of  this  serious  character  was  regarded,  as  also  the  sym- 
pathy with  which  he  could  enter  into  difficulties  of  his  pupils  and 
brethren  in  the  ministry. 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,    D.  D.  335 

"  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  November  8,  1872.  > 
"  EEV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER  : — 

"  You  have  wondered  at  my  silence.  It  has  not  been  indifference. 
I  do  not  think  a  day  has  passed  since  we  met  in  Boston  that  I  have 
not  thought  of  you,  and  that,  I  may  venture  to  say,  with  the  affec- 
tion and  anxiety  of  true  friendship. 

"  I  cannot  attempt  a  response  to  the  many  things  in  your  letter  that 
have  touched  my  heart.  Indeed,  I  am  almost  unfit,  from  a  violent 
cold,  to  write  at  all.  The  one  point  upon  which  I  can  only  speak, 
and  that  but  a  word,  is,  your  leaving  our  Church.  Such  a  step 
would  be  fraught  with  so  many  consequences,  to  your  usefulness  in 
life,  to  your  personal  comfort,  to  the  comfort  and  future  of  your 
family,  and  to  a  great  many  other  interests  that  might  be  named, 
that  it  ought  not  to  be  taken  without  long,  as  well  as  earnest,  delib- 
eration and  prayer.  A  man  of  your  temperament  is  liable  to 
impatience.  You  are  intensely  active  in  your  turn,  and  cannot 
well  brook  being  laid  by  for  a  time.  But  you  know  it  is  sometimes 
the  Lord's  will,  and  is  only  designed  to  increase  our  usefulness 
afterward;  and  it  is  eventually  found  that  the  time  supposed  to  be 
lost  was  so  much  placed  in  usury  at  a  high  interest.  Moses  was 
forty  years  in  Midian,  and  was  thereby  prepared  for  the  forty  years 
spent  in  leading  Israel  into  the  land  of  promise. 

"  It  was  a  real  grief  to  me  that  we  could  not  shake  hands  in 
Boston.  I  went  the  other  day  to  New  York,  to  attend  the  Evan- 
gelical anniversaries,  and  hoped  to  meet  you  there,  but  was 
disappointed.  I  went  by  night  and  returned  by  night,  so,  you  may 
judge,  saw  none  but  members  of  the  Societies,  and  we  were  in 
session  most  of  the  time,  but  not  seeing  you  there,  the  next  best 
thing  is  to  see  you  here.  You  spoke  a  word  about  a  trip  to  the 
South  when  we  met  at  the  funeral;  can't  you  make  us  a  visit?  I 
need  not  say  how  delighted  I  should  be  to  see  you  under  my  unpre- 
tentious roof.  Does  not  your  care  of  your  Virginia  lands  call  for  a 
visit  in  this  direction  ? 

"  I  wish  now  with  all  my  heart  I  had  not  wasted  my  past  vacation 
on  this  Hill,  but  had  gone  North  early  enough  to  allow  me  to  visit 
your  family.  They  are  now  pretty  well  grown  up,  and  I  want  to 
see  what  sort  of  men  and  women  time  is  making  of  them.  It 
would  also  have  been  a  great  gratification  to  me  to  have  seen  Mrs. 
H.  and  talk  to  her  about  sundry  matters.  If  I  am  spared  to 
another  summer,  I  think  I  shall  be  more  wise.  But  summers  and 


336  MEMOIR    OF 

winters  many  cannot  be  for  me.  Time  flies,  and  my  end  must 
soon  come.  Thank  God,  I  can  contemplate  it  as  in  early  life  I 
did  not. 

"Last  night  I  received  Dr.  O.'s  annual  report  of  the  Home  for 
Consumptives,  and  saw  your  name  (with  some  remarks)  among  the 
speakers  at  the  dedication.  Work  on  irregularly  till  something 
permanent  offers. 

"  With  true  Christian  love  for  you  and  yours, 

"Your  old  friend  and  brother,  W.  SPARROW." 

One  or  two  sentences  in  this  letter  claim  notice,  as  connected  with 
a  topic  to  which  they  allude,  the  changed  feelings  with  which  his 
approach  to  the  world  of  realities  was  contemplated.  "  Summers 
and  winters  many  cannot  be  for  me.  Time  flies,  and  my  end  must 
soon  come.  Thank  God,  I  can  contemplate  it  as  in  early  life  I  did 
not."  The  change  thus  alluded  to  was  very  remarkable,  very  no- 
ticeable in  the  change  of  tone,  the  language  and  manner,  in  which 
during  these  last  years,  especially  the  last  five  or  six,  with  which 
he  spoke  of  his  departure,  from  what  it  was  at  an  earlier  period. 
The  intensity  of  awe,  not  fear,  for  of  this  there  was  no  manifest- 
ation, but  the  deep  solemnity  of  a  spirit  thoroughly  awed  in  its 
contemplation  of  a  world  of  eternal  realities,  and  of  the  great 
change  by  which  the  soul  was  introduced  into  that  world,  was 
almost  painful  as  it  became  a  subject  of  conversation.  Distinct 
remembrances  come  to  the  mind  of  the  writer,  of  allusions  by  the 
Doctor  to  this  subject  many  years  ago ;  of  the  manner  of  such  allu- 
sion at  the  time  of  the  death  of  Albert  Duy ;  when,  again,  in  1862, 
he  visited  the  grave  of  Bishop  Meade,  and  even  as  late  as  the  year 
after  the  restoration  of  the  Seminary,  in  1865.  Not  long  after 
this  last  date,  it  was,  that  he  noticed  a  difference.  And  then  on, 
and  to  the  end,  every  allusion  showed,  and  they  were  not  unfre- 
quently  made,  that  the  awe  of  contemplation  as  to  the  great  change 
had  lost  its  oppressiveness;  that  in  childlike, acquiescence,  and  with- 
out anxiety,  he  was  waiting  the  summons  of  a  reconciled  Father 
and  Saviour;  ready  to  depart  and  be  with  Christ,  as  far  better. 

Thus  the  session  was  wearing  on  in  its  usual  round  of  study  and 
duty,  when  the  writer  received  a  message,  about  sunrise  on  Fri- 
day, February  14th,  requesting  him  to  come  over  to  Dr.  Sparrow's 
study.  Mrs.  Sparrow  had  been  taken  suddenly  ill  in  the  course  of 
the  night,  and  the  indications  were  very  alarming.  The  day  pre- 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  337 

vious  had  been  the  anniversary  of  her  marriage,  forty-six  years 
before,  and  although  not  well,  she  had  made  a  special  effort  to  recog- 
nize its  recurrence.  "  During  the  day,"  said  the  Doctor,  "  she  came 
into  my  study,  and  sat  there,"  pointing  to  a  chair,  "  but  she  told 
me  that  she  did  not  anticipate  that  we  should  be  together  again 
on  a  like  occasion."  As  the  day  wore  on,  she  became  too  sick 
to  keep  up  with  the  family,  and  between  bedtime  and  sunrise 
became  desperately  ill.  In  this  condition  she  continued  until  the 
time  of  her  death,  the  Tuesday  afterward.  The  first  few  days 
the  Doctor  was  able  to  be  with  her,  and  share  in  the  sad  privi- 
lege of  endeavoring  to  alleviate  her  suffering.  His  strength,  how- 
ever, was  soon  exhausted,  and  he  was  compelled  to  seek  rest. 
From  some  inadvertence,  in  the  confusion  occasioned  by  Mrs.  Spar- 
row's sickness,  he  went  to  sleep  in  a  room  in  which  there  had  been 
no  fire  for  several  days,  and  thus  took  a  severe  cold,  by  which  he 
was  confined  to  his  bed  for  more  than  a  month  following.  This, 
although  serious,  was  not  regarded  at  first  as  alarming.  He  was 
unable,  however,  to  leave  his  room,  to  take  any  further  part  in 
attendance  upon  his  dying  wife,  or  even  to  see  her  after  his  attack 
commenced.  Her  departure  was  announced  to  the  writer  while  con- 
ducting a  recitation  in  the  Seminary;  dismissing  the  class,  he  went 
immediately  to  the  chamber  of  the  Doctor.  The  sad  announce- 
ment had  already  been  made  to  him;  and  he  was  staying  himself 
upon  that  consolation  which  is  to  be  found  in  the  Divine  promises, 
the  Divine  assurances  of  blessing  to  the  departed  children  of  God. 
"  Death,"  said  he,  in  his  impressive  manner,  in  reply  to  a  question 
intended  to  ascertain  whether  he  knew  what  had  taken  place,  "death 
has  been  here.  But  she  is  in  Heaven — certainly  she  is  in  Heaven." 
The  bereavement,  mournful  and  severe  under  any  circumstances, 
was  peculiarly  so  under  those  actually  existing.  The  most  bereaved 
of  all  could  not  be  present  at  the  hour  of  departure,  the  chief  mourner 
compelled  to  be  absent  from  the  last  rites  of  friendship  and  affection. 
A  couple  of  letters,  to  sympathizing  pupils,  written  not  long 
after,  are  here  inserted.  They  show  the  spirit  in  which  this  dispen- 
sation was  received,  his  grateful  appreciation  of  the  affection  and 
sympathy  which  had  been  expressed  for  him  in  his  affliction. 

"  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  March  31,  1873. 
"KEY.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER: — 

"  Your  kind  and  comforting  letter  would  not  have  remained  so 
22 


338  MEMOIR    OF 

long  unanswered  but  for  the  debility  which  still  hangs  upon  me. 
I  have  not  yet  got  out  of  doors;  and  my  nerves  have  been  so 
weakened  that  it  costs  an  effort  to  hold  a  pen  steadily  five  minutes. 

"You  speak  of  your  nearness  to  your  silver  wedding.  Mrs. 
Sparrow  and  myself  had  come  within  four  years  of  our  golden. 
We  had  been  in  the  habit  of  celebrating,  in  a  simple  way,  the  day 
of  our  wedding,  which  was  the  thirteenth  of  February.  As  the  last 
wedding  day  was  approaching,  conversing  together  alone,  she 
solemnly  remarked,  'We  shall  never  celebrate  another.'  When 
the  day  came,  she  appeared  at  the  breakfast-table,  but  could  not 
come  down  to  dinner,  though  some  guests  had  been  invited.  Oh, 
that  I  could  have  known  how  near  the  end  was !  I  cannot  help 
giving  utterance  to  the  thought,  though  I  know  that  it  is  not  one 
which  should  be  indulged.  Another  vain  regret,  which  has  caused 
great  bitterness  of  grief,  is,  that  I  was  taken  down  sick  myself  some 
days  before  the  end,  and  I  never  saw  her  afterward,  either  dying 
or  dead.  My  heart  bleeds  at  the  thought,  and  I  might  almost  say 
refuses  to  be  comforted.  But  I  know  it  is  wrong,  and  I  bow  my 
head  to  Sovereign  wisdom  and  love.  But  I  stop.  You  will  forgive 
all  this,  dear  brother.  If  my  weakness  is  great,  so  is  my  loss.  I 
say  nothing  of  her  many  traits  of  character  which  made  her  the 
best  of  wives  and  mothers,  kinswoman  and  neighbor;  truthful, 
unselfish,  wise  and  benevolent  to  a  remarkable  degree ;  but  truly  I 
can  say  I  know  not  what  I  would  have  been  as  a  Christian  and 
Christian  minister  but  for  her  devout  example,  and  wise  and  faith- 
ful counsels.  Being  dead,  may  the  remembrance  of  her  spirit,  and 
life,  and  wise  suggestions,  still  speak  to  me.  But  I  forbear.  It  is 
with  very  few  that  I  could  be  so  obtrusive  of  myself  and  my 
sorrows. 

"  F. ,  thank  God,  has  stood  her  trial  wonderfully.  Last  fall  my  dear 
wife  was  so  feeble  we  had  to  get  a  housekeeper;  but  she  has  left  us. 
We  have  got  another,  who  promises  well;  by  which  I  mean  that 
dear  F.  seems  to  be  much  pleased  with  the  arrangement. 

"As  to  myself,  my  sickness  has  left  me  very  feeble,  and  to  how 
much  work,  or  whether  to  any,  it  will  please  the  Lord  to  restore 
me,  is  not  yet  clear.  I  await  His  good  pleasure,  sometimes  with 
submission,  but  also  sometimes  with  anxious  heart.  Pray  for  me, 
and  let  my  dear  friend  M.  pray  for  me,  that  I  may  be  able  to  leave 
myself  and  mine  with  peaceful  confidence  in  the  hands  of  my 
heavenly  Father. 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  339 

"  With  much  love  to  your  precious  wife,  and  many  thanks  for 
your  kind  letter,  I  am  ever, 

"Your  affectionate  friend  and  brother,          W.  SPARROW." 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  April  21,  1873. 
"  MY  DEAR : — 

"Sickness  and  sorrow  must  account  for  my  long  silence  in 
regard  to  your  letter.  Some  days  before  Mrs.  Sparrow  was  taken 
from  us  I  was  seized  with  a  violent  attack  of  sickness  myself,  so 
that  I  was  not  permitted  to  be  present  at  her  departure,  nor  to  see 
her  afterward.  From  that  sickness,  through  God's  goodness,  I  am 
now  convalescing,  but  I  have  not  yet  been  able  to  resume  my 
duties.  It  has,  moreover,  left  me  with  a  deafness  so  severe  that  I 
hope  to  go  to-morrow  with  Dr.  M.,  our  resident  physician,  to  con- 
sult an  aurist.  Yesterday  was  the  first  day  that  I  have  been  at 
church  since  our  affliction;  but  it  was  profitless,  so  far  as  the 
hearing  of  the  sermon  was  concerned.  Be  assured,  therefore,  that 
your  letter  and  those  of  many  others  have  not  remained  unnoticed 
from  indifference,  but  from  necessity.  I  was  truly  thankful  for 
your  words  of  kindness  and  Christian  sympathy.  Such  condolence 
helps  one  to  realize  more  fully  the  meaning  of  the  '  communion  of 
saints/  which,  as  a  mere  outward  association,  is  a  small  matter;  but 
as  a  thing  of  the  Spirit,  built  on  divine  truths,  and  entering  into 
the  precious  and  glorious  things  of  eternity,  is  most  elevating,  as 
well  as  soothing,  and  aids  us  in  entering  more  fully  into  that 
fellowship  with  the  Father,  and  His  Son  Jesus  Christ,  which  is  the 
basis  of  all  Christian  association. 

"I  wish  you  had  told  me  something  about  yourself,  and  your 
situation.  My  heart's  desire  and  prayer  is  that  you  may  be 
abundantly  blessed  in  your  person,  your  family,  and  your  works, 
and  that  whenever  it  may  please  God  to  send  affliction  upon  you, 
you  may  be  sustained  and  cheered  by  the  consolation  wherewith 
you  have  sought  to  comfort  me. 

"Faithfully  and  affectionately  yours,     WILLIAM  SPARROW." 

"Such  a  bereavement,"  is  his  language  in  another  letter  on  the 
same  topic,  "is  the  severest,  I  suppose,  that  an  old  man  can  be 
called  on  to  endure.  Thanks  be  to  God,  I  have  every  consolation 
which  a  surviving  Christian  can  have  in  reference  to  one  departed. 
Forty-six  years  of  intercourse  disclosed  to  me  a  character  such  as 


340  MEMOIR    OF 

the  Church  of  God  seldom  sees  this  side  of  the  grave;  a  precious 
legacy  to  her  husband  and  to  her  children." 

This  eulogy,  from  him  who  had  known  her  worth,  precludes  the 
necessity,  and  almost  the  propriety,  of  anything  of  the  same  kind 
from  any  one  else.  Her  characteristic  remark,  as  she  gave  up  a 
beloved  child  to  the  work  of  a  missionary  among  the  heathen,  and 
as  expressive  of  her  own,  and  what  ought  to  be  the  feelings  of  her 
household,  "  God  loveth  a  cheerful  giver,"  constitutes  one  illustra- 
tion of  the  language  of  these  letters.  "  There  is,"  says  Dr.  Gram- 
mer,  "one  thing  tq  be  remembered  in  Dr.  Sparrow's  estimate  of 
his  wife,  which  I  doubt  not  is  familiar  to  you.  It  is  his  frequent 
mention  of  the  fact  that  he  intended  to  put  a  monument  or  stone 
over  her  grave,  and  on  it  inscribe  these  words,  'Sic  vos,  non  vobis.' 
You  recollect  the  allusion.  In  the  life  of  Virgil  the  whole  story  is 
given:  'The  bees  make  their  honey,  but  not  for  themselves.  The 
sheep  have  their  wool,  but  not  for  themselves.  The  oxen  plow, 
but  not  for  themselves.  The  birds  build  their  nests,  but  not  for 
themselves.'  I  have  often  heard  the  Doctor  recite  the  words  in 
Latin,  as  applicable  to  the  self-denying  character  of  Mrs.  Sparrow." 
During  the  continuance  of  his  sickness,  after  her  death,  there  were 
times  when  the  indications  became  very  serious  of  a  fatal  termina- 
tion. His  objections  to  the  use  of  stimulants  were  very  great, 
and  it  was  only  upon  the  assurance  that  it  was  absolutely  neces- 
sary that  he  was  induced  to  yield  them.  For  a  considerable 
portion  of  the  time  it  was  necessary  that  he  should  have  attend- 
ance through  the  night,  and  this  was  rendered  by  the  students, 
who  arranged  among  themselves  for  the  purpose,  the  attendance  of 
the  day  being  in  the  hands  of  the  family.  It  was  a  source  of 
gratification  to  be  able  in  this  way  to  express  their  affection  and 
regard,  the  difficulty  being  not  to  get  attendants,  but  to  select 
those  of  most  experience  in  nursing.  After  some  weeks,  as  men- 
tioned in  one  of  the  letters  above,  it  became  manifest  that  the 
sickness  had  very  seriously  affected  his  hearing.  The  degree  of 
this  would  vary  from  time  to  time,  but  at  the  best  it  was  quite 
serious,  and  a  source  of  annoyance  and  depression.  His  classes, 
after  the  first  few  weeks,  were  divided  among  his  colleagues,  so  as 
in  that  respect  to  relieve  his  mind  of  anxiety. 

About  the  first  of  May,  however,  he  was  enabled  to  resume  his 
duties,  and  to  the  close  of  the  session,  saving  the  trouble  of  his 
deafness,  was  almost  restored  to  his  ordinary  condition.  "His 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  341 

enforced  inactivity,"  says  Miss  B.,  "  during  his  lengthened  conva- 
lescence, was  extremely  irksome  to  his  active  spirit.  At  times,  to  a 
casual  observer,  he  might  have  seemed  rebellious.  But  those  who 
knew  him  most,  felt  that  his  restlessness  was  rather  the  dissatisfac- 
tion of  a  disabled  soldier  than  the  petulance  of  suffering.  He  was 
a  worker,  and  there  was  work  to  do.  He  was  fond  of  his  special 
work,  and  it  was  waiting  for  him.  His  deafness  was  a  constant 
source  of  annoyance,  and  from  his  description  of  his  sensations,  it 
must  at  times  have  been  painful.  It  distressed  him  to  know  that 
people  were  obliged  to  make  an  effort  to  be  heard  by  him.  Some- 
times, he  said,  he  believed  he  would  cease  trying  to  talk  to  us, 
because  we  were  spoiling  our  voices  raising  them  so  high  to  reply 
to  him.  He  was  very  fond  of  the  clerical  and  other  society  with 
which  it  was  his  privilege  to  associate.  One  of  his  dearest  pleasures 
was  the  receipt  of  letters,  and  during  his  season  of  trial  and 
mourning  they  were  doubly  precious.  They  had  accumulated 
greatly  when  I  came;  but  afterward  scarcely  a  day  passed  that  he 
did  not  congratulate  himself  upon  having  answered  one  or  two  more 
of  them.  He  always  seemed  pleased  when  able  to  spend  a  portion 
of  each  day  in  letter- writing." 

He  did  not  venture  to  attend  the  Diocesan  Council  held  in  Win- 
chester. The  Trustees  having,  in  their  meeting  at  this  Council, 
decided  to  have  a  semi-centennial  celebration  of  the  founding  of  the 
Seminary,  it  became  his  duty  to  co-operate  with  them  in  carrying 
their  purpose  into  execution.  The  occasion  was  one  in  which  he 
felt  deep  interest,  and  he  roused  himself  for  the  consultations  and 
efforts  preparatory.  As  a  member  of  the  committee  he  took  part  in 
framing  the  plan  of  commemoration  and  aiding  to  its  completion 
before  the  session  terminated.  A  new  interest  in  the  Semi-Centen- 
nial  was  called  forth  in  view  of  the  loss,  at  this  time,  of  the 
$100,000  donation  already  mentioned.  It  was  hoped  that  in  the 
gathering  of  the  Alumni  and  friends  of  the  Institution  some  plan 
could  be  devised  and  some  effort  originated  by  which  the  deficiency 
thus  made  might  be  remedied. 

The  vacation  was  spent  largely  at  home.  The  effects  of  his  sick- 
ness in  the  spring  had  not  entirely  passed  away,  and  he  was  there- 
fore little  disposed  to  the  exertion  of  travel,  or  to  encounter  the 
bustle  incident  to  change  of  location.  One  brief  visit  to  Fauquier, 
where  he  met  with  several  clerical  brethren,  formed  an  exception, 
as  also  a  longer  one  in  New  York,  during  the  last  weeks  of  the 


342  MEMOIR    OF 

vacation.  The  beginning  of  the  session  was  one  of  unusual  interest, 
as  connected  with  the  Semi-Centennial,  and  found  him  in  his  place, 
prepared  to  welcome  his  brethren  from  a  distance,  and  rejoice  with 
them  in  the  event  which  had  called  them  together.  It  is  peculiarly 
grateful  to  feel  that  he  was  spared  to  be  present,  to  enjoy  the  ser- 
vices of  the  meeting,  and  to  afford  to  so  many  of  his  former  pupils 
the  opportunity  of  again  meeting  him  amid  the  associations  of  the 
place  and  occasion.  The  various  incidents  of  the  jubilee,  its  ser- 
vices, and  addresses,  and  discussions,  were  exceedingly  pleasant. 
The  attendance  was  most  gratifyingly  large,  the  weather  favorable, 
and  the  spirit  pervading  most  delightful.  It  was  a  season  to  be 
remembered  with  feelings  of  gratitude.  And  among  all  those  who 
were  present,  no  one  more  appreciated  and  enjoyed  what  was  going 
on  than  Dr.  Sparrow.  More  than  once  afterwards  he  alluded  to  it, 
expressing  his  gratification,  especially  in  view  of  its  bearing  upon 
the  future  welfare  and  interests  of  the  Seminary,  with  its  great 
work  of  furthering  the  cause  of  sound  theological  education.  It 
was  a  grateful  recompense,  in  many  respects,  for  years  of  labor  and 
responsibility. 

The  letters  here  inserted  were  written  during  this  year,  the  one 
in  January,  and  the  other  in  August,  1873.  The  first  contains 
its  own  explanation,  and  is  valuable  as  a  partial  ^discussion  of  a 
subject  which  has  been  lately  occupying  the  public  mind.  The 
second  was  to  a  gentleman  eminent  in  his  profession,  and  as  a  pub- 
lic man,  but  not  a  communicant,  in  whose  welfare  the  Doctor  felt  a 
very  deep .  interest.  That  interest,  as  thus  expressed,  it  is  grateful 
to  know,  was  thankfully  appreciated. 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  January  20,  1873. 
"  Should  you  attempt  the  revision,  you  will  doubtless  see  many 
things  which  you  will  want  to  introduce,  but  cannot,  for  lack  of 
space.  Let  me  suggest  that  if  among  these  you  select  any,  one 
might  be  the  inconsistency  of  scientists  among  themselves,  and  with 
their  own  declarations  on  former  occasions,  in  proposing  this  test 
of  prayer.  As  scientists,  they  deal  with  matter,  while  Divines 
(and  Metaphysicians)  deal  with  spirit.  The  former  employ  the 
senses;  the  latter,  consciousness  and  reason  only.  The  former  are 
questioning  nature;  the  latter  are  humbly  inquiring  after  the  will 
of  God.  The  sphere  of  the  one  is  the  laboratory,  where  the  experi- 
mentalist is  the  god  of  the  place;  the  sphere  of  the  other  is  the 
temple  of  the  moral  universe,  where  the  true  and  living  God  pre- 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,   D.  D. 

sides  to  give  light  and  peace,  all  others  being  worshipers.  The 
object  of  the  one  is  to  discover  some  quality  by  the  help  of 
furnaces  and  retorts;  the  object  of  the  other,  to  learn  the  will  of 
God  as  ruler,  as  God  over  all,  blessed  forever.  In  fine,  the  one  is 
torturing  a  piece  of  inert  matter,  a  passive  creature  of  God,  as  un- 
conscious as  it  is  passive,  with  a  view  to  some  material  interest,  and 
nothing  beyond;  whilst  the  other  is  inquiring  (if  in  the  right  spirit) 
most  reverently  what  are  the  laws  of  the  Supreme,  as  they  concern 
all  creatures,  conscious  and  unconscious,  in  their  mutual  relations, 
and  that  not  only  in  reference  to  time,  but  much  more  in  reference 
to  eternity;  laying  the  chief  stress  on  the  moral  relations  of  the 
intelligent  creature  to  his  Creator,  knowing  if  they  are  properly 
adjusted  all  else  will  come  right,  seeing  that  matter  is  ancillary  to 
mind.  Thus  are  scientists  on  the  one  side,  and  theologians  and 
philosophers  on  the  other.  The  contrast  is  complete.  A  great  gulf 
is  fixed  between. 

"  Now  it  is  said  that  these  antithetical  parties  have,  at  different 
times,  interfered  with  one  another;  and,  doubtless,  it  has  been  so. 
It  is  said,  especially  by  scientists,  that  theologians  have  all  through 
the  ages  acted  the  part  of  'busy-bodies'  in  other  men's  matters; 
attempting  to  settle  scientific  questions  by  theological  principles, 
carrying  out  the  principles  and  rules  of  judgment  which  belong  to 
the  one,  and  applying  them  to  the  other;  committing  the  same  kind 
of  blunder  as  learned  men  when  they  determine  points  in  physiology 
by  mathematics.  The  stock  example  here  is,  of  course,  the  case  of 
Galileo  and  his  contemporaries.  But  now  all  that  is  changed.  We 
may  say  to  Tyndall  and  his  friend,  'De  te  fabula  narratur.'  They 
call  on  Christians  to  leave  the  sphere  in  whioh,  as  such,  they  live,  and 
move,  and  have  their  being,  and  come  down  into  the  arena  of  physi- 
cal nature,  and  there  test  their  views  of  God  and  immortality,  of  all 
moral  affections,  of  faith,  of  hope,  of  love,  and  manipulate  them  as 
if  they  were  earths  or  metals,  acids  or  alkalies,  and  constituted  ac- 
cording to  some  law  of  'definite  proportions/  and  subject  to  measure- 
ment of  weight  and  volume.  Surely  this  is  a  mixing  of  things  which 
ought  not  to  be  so  confounded.  It  is  an  intrusion  of  the  physical 
into  the  moral  department,  which  ought  to  be  rebuked,  not  only  as 
dry,  hard,  harsh,  unfeeling,  and  irreverent,  but  as  utterly  unphilo- 
sophieal.  We  say  to  those  who  betray  such  lack  of  self-knowledge, 
stick  to  your  last,  gentlemen ;  ne  sutor  ultra  crepidam.  Abstract 
science  is  one  thing,  and  concrete  quite  another.  Much  more  is 


344  MEMOIR    OF 

physical  science  one  thing,  and  moral  science  quite  another.  And 
if  you  do  not  use  the  same  process  to  look  for  the  same  results  in 
the  one  case,  why  should  you  in  the  other?  There  is  no  common 
measure  that  applies  to  mind  and  matter,  and  he  who  subjects  mind, 
the  finite  and  the  infinite,  to  the  same  laws  of  calculation  and  judg- 
ment which  he  recognizes  in  matter,  virtually  annihilates  that 
mind,  leaving  us  a  physical  world,  and  nothing  beside. 

"All  this  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  it  is  not  really  a  scientific 
result  that  is  sought,  but  an  atheistic  argument.  And  if  this  be 
so,  what  are  we  to  think  of  the  way  in  which  Christians  are  treated 
in  the  proposing  of  this  test  of  prayer?  Christians  believe  in  a 
God  who  controls  all  things,  material  laws  included,  and,  therefore, 
that  he  can  answer  prayer,  and  does  answer  prayer,  without  let  or 
hindrance,  whenever  he  pleases.  On  this  their  whole  moral  being 
is  based.  This  is  not  a  theory  with  them,  it  is  their  life.  Think 
otherwise,  and  their  life  and  character  are  instantly  and  necessarily 
changed.  The  Christian  is  not  a  headful  of  notions — bare  notions, 
right  or  wrong,  taken  in  connection  with  a  decently  regulated  con- 
duct. In  him  right  notions  and  proper  conduct  must  be  connected 
by  and  with  a  body  of  emotions,  sentiments,  ethical  tendencies,  de- 
vout affections,  volitions  and  will,  which  make  him  what  he  is ;  and, 
therefore,  to  suppose  no  such  connections  thus  formed,  is  to  sup- 
pose no  Christian  in  the  case.  Yet  these  men  have  the  audacity  to 
propose  to  us  that  we  put  off  this  character,  that  we  become  other 
than  ourselves,  that  we  place  ourselves  in  the  condition  of  those 
who  doubt  whether  there  is  a  God,  a  God  that  can  control  all  things, 
such  a  God  as  can  alone  satisfy  the  convictions  and  cravings  of  the 
Christian  mind  and  heart;  and  then  in  this  state  of  profane  doubt 
offer  the  prayer  of  faith,  i.  e.,  such  prayer  as  the  Christian  believes 
to  be  alone  acceptable  to  God  through  Christ !  Was  there  ever 
such  a  jumble  of  seeming  reverence  and  real  profanity?  such  a 
contradiction  in  terms  and  in  ideas  as  is  thus  presented !  Surely 
the  animus  of  such  a  proposition,  coming  from  men  of  understand- 
ing and  education,  cannot  be  considered  ingenuous,  frank,  kindly, 
or  respectful. 

"  But  the  apology  for  all  this  is,  that  it  is  impossible  God  should 
answer  prayer  when  the  laws  of  physical  nature  are  concerned,  for 
that  they  are  immutable  in  their  very  being  and  must  flow  on  in 
their  resistless  course  far  beyond  and  above  any  impediment  or 
control  from  mind  or  will.  God  may  be  asked  to  do  other  things, 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  345 

with  the  hope  of  success,  perhaps;  but  nature  is  beyond  his  reach, 
and  prayer,  therefore,  is  unavailing.  If  this  be  so,  then  there  is  no 
God !  First  of  all,  if  miracles  are  impossible,  there  is  no  consola- 
tion for  us;  we  are  given  over  to  hopeless  atheism,  for  they  are 
entirely  possible  on  the  supposition  of  a  personal  God,  and  an  im- 
personal nature,  and  that  the  latter  is  the  work  of  His  hands. 
Perhaps  this  is  the  view  of  these  gentlemen;  and  in  that  case  can- 
dor required  their  statement  of  it,  and  fairness  also. 

"  But,  in  the  second  place,  if  the  being  of  God  as  personal  be  ad- 
mitted, and  it  is  also  admitted  that  as  he  set  the  machine  of  nature 
agoing,  so  he  can  also  stop  it  when  he  pleases,  and  that  visible  mira- 
cles are  possible  to  him ;  what  forbids  us  to  believe  that  the  wisdom 
and  power  which  made  the  machine,  and  can  suspend  its  operation 
in  the  sight  of  all  men,  at  will,  can  also,  with  an  unseen  hand,  make 
it  work  out  his  purposes  just  as  effectually?  Whether  we  call  a 
miracle  a  suspension,  or  violation,  or  interruption  of  the  laws  of 
nature,  surely,  if  he  can  thus  break  in  upon  the  orderly  agencies 
of  the  physical  world,  he  can,  in  a  more  quiet  and  gradual  way, 
modify  the  working  of  these  laws,  so  that  in  any  given  case  the 
result  will  be  according  to  his  will,  acting  in  compliance  with  some 
suppliant's  prayer.  The  laws  of  nature  are  instrumentalities  which 
God  made  and  ordinarily  uses.  They  are  His  servants,  not  His 
masters.  They  exist  because  He  wills  it,  and  as  He  wills  it.  Their 
working,  and  the  results  thereof,  are  equally  His,  and  of  His  ap- 
pointment. If  God  be  God,  He  can  create  agents,  laws,  operations, 
and  results.  If  He  be  God,  He  can  work  thus  the  natural  laws  He 
has  created,  or  He  can  suspend  them  openly,  or  modify  their  effi- 
ciency secretly,  all  in  answer  to  prayer.  It  is  one  of  the  glories  of 
God  thus  to  coneeal  a  matter.  But  why  run  on  in  this  random  way? 
Excuse  my  garrulity.  I  ought  to  have  read  your  sermon  over 
again,  and  then  I  would  have  been  more  brief,  not  repeating  what 
you  have  already  said,  and  that  better. 

"Yours,  affectionately,  W.  SPARROW. 

"Rev.  Mr.  McKim." 

"  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  July  31,  1873. 
"MY  DEAR  J.:—  * 

"  The  Hill  is  almost  entirely  deserted.  So  we  have  a  very  quiet 
time,  indeed.  Except  one  short  trip  for  three  days  into  an  adjoin- 
ing county,  I  have  not  been  abroad  anywhere,  and  I  am  not  likely 


346  MEMOIR    OF 

to  be  during  the  vacation.     I  have  not  enterprise  enough  to  leave 
home. 

"F.'s  health  is  as  good  as  usual.  Our  housekeeper,  Miss  B.,  is 
getting  on  very  well.  You  have  received  the  postal  card  inviting 
you  to  the  jubilee.  I  hope  you  will  be  able  to  be  with  us.  The 
loss  of  our  donation  has  thrown  us  into  much  anxiety.  Perhaps  the 
jubilee  may  prove  a  gathering  providentially  ordered  to  meet  this 
exigency. 

"  I  hope  the  boys  are  still  diligent  and  prosperous  in  their 
studies.  Anything  you  can  tell  about  them,  or  they  will  tell  about 
themselves,  will  always  be  acceptable. 

"I  lately  had  a  letter  from  Ireland,  announcing  the  death  of  my 
aunt,  my  mother's  youngest  sister.  The  last  of  a  large  family. 
My  connection  with  Ireland  is  nearly  severed.  But  so  also  is  my 
connection  with  the  world !  Yet  I  love  the  one  and  enjoy  the  other, 
in  ways  for  which  I  ought  to  be  thankful.  With  love  and  blessing 
to  the  boys, 

"  I  am  your  affectionate  father,  W.  SPARROW. 

"Rev.  J.A.  Jerome." 

The  following  letter  contains  its  own  explanation.  It  was 
addressed  to  an  eminent  public  man,  with  whom  the  Doctor,  during 
the  war,  if  not. earlier,  had  formed  an  acquaintance: — 

"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  FAIRFAX  Co.,  VA., 

"August  31, 1873. 
"  MY  DEAR :— 

"  Just  returned  home  from  a  fortnight's  trip,  I  learn  by  private  hand 
of  your  severe  indisposition,  and  cannot  refrain  from  dropping  this  line 
in  expression  of  true  sympathy.  Our  personal  intercourse  has  not  been 
great;  nevertheless  it  has  been  such  as  to  give  me  an  affectionate 
interest  in  your  welfare.  Your  public  services  to  the  State  and 
community  at  large,  though  I  highly  appreciated  them  in  the  time 
of  our  war  troubles,  and  know  how  they  are  appreciated  by  all 
competent  judges  now,  I  do  not  speak  of.  At  the  present  time  I 
am  specially  moved  by  the  recollection  of  your  prompt  attention 
to  a  recast  or  two  on  my  part  of  a  personal  nature,  and  also  your 
civility  and  kindness  to  my  son.  He  has  often  spoken  of  it. 

"  I  hope,  my  dear  sir,  that  this  will  find  you  rapidly  convalescing, 
or,  if  such  be  not  the  will  of  our  heavenly  Father,  that  you  are 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  347 

enjoying  that  higher  order  of  'health  and  spirits'  which  flows 
from  the  assurance  of  God's  love  in  Christ.  I  understand  your 
attack  came  upon  you  in  the  house  of  God.  I  take  it  as  a  good 
augury,  so  to  say,  of  a  beneficent  result,  whatever  may  be  the  out- 
ward form  of  that  result. 

"I  write  this,  not  expecting  an  answer.  It  is  done  only  to 
satisfy  a  feeling  of  respect  and  earnest  good  wishes. 

"I  am,  dear  sir,  truly  your  friend  and  servant, 

"  WILLIAM  SPARROW." 

Immediately  following  upon  the  jubilee  was  the  work  of  the 
session.  The  Evangelical  Alliance,  within  a  few  weeks,  commenced 
its  sessions  in  New  York,  and  Dr.  Sparrow  went  on  for  a  few  days, 
to  be  present  at  the  opening  services.  His  anticipations  as  to  the 
pleasure  and  interest  connected  with  the  presence  and  conferences 
of  the  members  of  this  body  were  very  high,  and  they  were  not  at 
all  disappointed.  He  enjoyed  them  intensely,  and  his  heart  was 
overflowing,  when  he  returned,  with  varied  emotion ;  with  gratitude 
to  God  that  Christendom  afforded  such  material  as  was  there  con- 
gregated ;  that  he  had  been  permitted  to  witness  such  an  exhibition 
(amid  so  many  unessential  diversities)  of  essential  Christian  unity. 
While,  to  use  his  own  strong  expression,  in  one  of  the  Faculty 
meetings,  soon  after,  he  "was  not  such  a  fool  as  to  imagine  that 
the  enthusiasm  called  forth  by  those  meetings  would  do  away  with 
all  the  evils  of  denominationalism  or  exclusiveness;"  that  while 
it  might,  as  on  former  occasions,  evoke  peculiar  exhibitions  of 
such  evils  in  the  way  of  antagonism,  yet  still  it  promised  to  do  a 
great  work;  that  it  had  indeed  already  accomplished  a  great 
work;  and  that,  whatever  might  be  the  fears  of  timid  sym- 
pathizers, or  the  abuse  of  angry  opposers,  it  was  a  practical 
exhibition  of  Christian  unity,  of  moral  and  intellectual  power  for 
Christian  truth  and  work,  unique  and  unexampled.  The  antagonism 
which  he  thus  predicted  was  not  long  in  making  itself  manifest ; 
and  as  it  had  been  anticipated,  so  it  made  no  change  of  estimation  with 
him  as  to  the  object  against  which  it  was  directed.  That  such  move- 
ment could  affect  the  highest  interests  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  any 
other  than  a  beneficial  manner,  he  never  believed.  Fully  convinced 
of  the  essential  unity  of  the  great  Protestant  churches  of  modern 
Christendom,  and  consequently  of  their  reciprocal  action  upon  each 
other,  whether  legislatively  connected  together  or  not;  that  any  ex- 


348  MEMOIR    OF 

tensive  outpouring  of  Divine  grace  upon  any  one  of  such  Christian 
communities  must  be  productive  of  blessing  to  the  other,  he 
rejoiced  in  every  real  manifestation  of  Christian  unity  and  affection. 

"  I  am  glad,"  is  his  language  in  a  letter  to  a  friend,  "  you  begin  to 
relish  the  New  York  "  Observer."  I  hope  your  father  gets  it  on 
Saturday,  for  I  almost  always  mail  it  on  Friday.  From  its  pages 
you  may  gather  something  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance ;  but  nothing 
but  personal  presence,  ocular  observation,  and  the  hearing  of  the 
ear,  can  convey  anything  like  an  adequate  conception  of  the  great 
reality.  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say,  there  has  never  been  such  a 
gathering  of  religious  men  in  this  world !  No  council  of  old  ever 
compared  with  it  in  numbers,  in  interest,  in  talent,  in  learning,  in 
religious  character,  in  spirit  and  living  power,  and  in  immediate 
influence  upon  the  Church  of  Christ,  and  upon  the  world.  Wicked, 
secular  and  money-making  New  York  was  moved  as  one  man. 
Day  after  day  were  assembled  in  its  halls  and  churches  thousands 
of  men,  in  disregard  of  the  panic  and  all  such  things,  who  showed 
by  their  whole  air,  appearance,  and  conduct,  that  they  were  at  once 
highly  cultivated  and  profoundly  in  earnest  on  the  subject  of 
religion.  Their  zeal  never  flagged  for  a  moment.  Indeed,  I  see 
not  how  it  could.  Some  of  the  very  first  minds  in  Christendom 
were  there,  with  their  wondrous  gifts  of  speech,  their  vast  learning, 
and  their  big  hearts ;  and  how  could  they  put  forth  their  strength, 
and  the  great  mass  of  mind  within  their  reach  not  be  powerfully 
moved?  Dr.  Norton,  who  did  not  go  there,  from  reading  the 
reports  was  led  to  preach  last  Sunday  afternoon  about  the  Alliance; 
and  Mr.  McKim,  who  was  at  the  meeting  two  days,  could  not 
satisfy  himself  by  one  sermon  only,  but  took  the  same  subject  at 
night  also ! " 

This  subject  has  its  connection  with  an  event  soon  following,  the 
excitement  of  which  has  not  yet  entirely  passed  away ;  the  conse- 
quences of  which,  as  yet,  are  but  partially  exhibited :  the  secession 
of  Bishop  Cummins.  Dr.  Sparrow,  as  may  be  seen  from  his  letter,  in 
1869,  to  Mr.  Dudley,  had  seriously  and  thoughtfully  contemplated 
the  probability  of  such  movement.  As  will  be  seen,  also,  from  his 
letters  to  Rev.  Messrs.  Jerome  and  Hubbard,  (pages  299,  302)  it 
was  a  movement  the  necessity  of  which  he  earnestly  deprecated. 
And  yet  he  believed  that  if  a  certain  policy  should  be  pressed  by 
the  ruling  majority  in  the  Church,  it  could  not  be  avoided.  At  the 
same  time,  it  will  be  seen  that  this  was  to  be  thought  of  as  the  ex- 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,  D.  D.  349 

treme  resort,  and  when  conscientious  conviction  was  disregarded 
and  outraged.  The  decision  as  to  when  this  point  was  reached,  he 
earnestly  insisted,  must  and  could  only  be  properly  made  by  the 
conscientious  action  of  the  individual,  deciding  for  himself,  and  for 
no  one  else.  What  was  Bishop  Cummins'  duty,  or  that  of  any  act- 
ing with  him,  he  did  not  pretend  to  decide;  he  refused,  indeed,  to 
entertain  the  question.  What  was  his  own  duty  was  very  clear,  and 
the  course  indicated  he  conscientiously  followed.  His  views  on  the 
subject  were  quite  fully  expressed,  soon  after  his  visit  to  New  York 
in  December  of  1874,  and  in  connection  with  his  account  of  an 
accidental  meeting  with  Bishop  Cummins  in  the  study  of  a  com- 
mon friend  and  brother  in  the  ministry.  "I  had  been  told,"  said 
he,  "  that  Bishop  Cummins  had  expressed  surprise  that  he  had  not 
heard  from  me  since  his  movement.  When,  therefore,  he  came  in 
where  I  was  sitting,  I  remembering  this,  and  he  also  probably 
thinking  of  something  of  the  kind,  there  was  a  little  embarrassment 
in  our  meeting.  Our  host,  however,  Dr.  S.  H.  Tyng,  Jr.,  was  in 
fine  spirits,  and  with  considerable  talk,  and  we  were  soon,  all  three 
of  us,  engaged  in  conversation,  largely  on  ordinary  topics."  "I 
was  often  asked,"  said  he  again,  speaking  of  this  visit  to  the  North, 
"what  we  intended  doing  with  reference  to  the  new  movement,  and 
further,  what  would  be  its  probable  effect  upon  the  future  of  the 
Episcopal  Church."  His  answer,  in  substance,  to  the  first  of 
these  questions  was,  that  he  could  only  undertake  to  speak  for  him- 
self; that  he  could  not  take  part  in  the  movement  save  under  the 
contingency  of  legislation  which  would  compel  violation  of  con- 
science, a  contingency  not  probable  to  one,  like  himself,  in  almost 
daily  expectation  of  departure.  His  view  in  regard  to  the  second 
of  these  inquiries  was  very  hopeful,  his  language  very  strong :  that 
"the  prospect  for  the  Episcopal  Church,  so  far  as  regarded  its  real 
spiritual  interests  and  work,  was  more  hopeful  than  he  had  known 
it  for  fifty  years."  His  feeling  and  hope  seemed  to  be,  that  in  some 
mode  this  movement  would  be  providentially  overruled  to  the 
breaking  of  a  power  against  which,  during  his  whole  life,  he  had 
been  struggling.  The  evils  of  Ritualism,  as  symbolical  of  false 
doctrine,  and  as  an  agency  to  its  dissemination,  he  fully  recog- 
nized. But  those  evils,  great  as  they  were,  in  his  estimation,  were 
greatly  aggravated  by  the  course  of  the  ruling  majority,  in  two 
respects.  First,  in  the  too  common  misrepresentation,  which,  ad- 
mitting the  existence  and  character  of  the  radical  extreme  of 


350  MEMOIR,    OP 

Ritualism,  immediately  offsetted  this  admission,  and  took  away  all 
the  grace  of  it,  in  the  assertion  that  Evangelical  men,  such  men, 
for  instance,  as  Bishop  Eastburn,  Dr.  Andrews,  and  Dr.  Sparrow 
himself,  constituted  an  extreme  of  equal  radicalism  in  a  different 
direction,  and  deserved  the  same  kind  of  treatment.  Secondly, 
that  unjust  as  was  this  misrepresentation,  the  practice  under  it 
was  more  unjust  still;  that  there  was  a  freedom  to  the  offending 
Ritualist,  and  a  stringency  of  canon  and  rubric  to  the  offending 
Evangelical,  which  were  wholly  inexcusable ;  that  while  such  men 
as  Ewer  and  Curtis  were  allowed  to  add  or  take  away  in  their 
services  with  perfect  freedom,  others,  like  Tyng  and  Cheney,  upon 
a  slight  indiscretion,  or  for  the  omission  of  a  word,  were  imme- 
diately under  the  Episcopal  maul,  for  discipline  or  for  destruction. 
It  was  the  prospect  of  seeing  a  power  thus  wielded  broken  that  he 
regarded  as  an  omen  of  good. 

Connected  with  this,  was  his  deprecation  of  the  language  of  many 
Evangelical  men,  in  regard  to  the  seceders,  the  harsh  judgments, 
the  unloving  words,  in  which  the  motives  of  these  latter  were  ques- 
tioned, and  the  impropriety  of  their  course  asserted.  Such  judg- 
ments, on  the  part  of  others,  he  would  not  allow  in  reference  to  his 
own  course  of  conscientious  conviction.  And  as  he  would  not  be 
judged  by  others  in  such  matters,  so  he  would  not  venture  to 
judge  others,  left  them  to  their  own  Master,  and  was  deeply  grieved 
to  find  so  many  of  those  with  whom  he  agreed  in  other  respects 
forgetting  this  law,  alike  of  Christian  love  and  Christian  conscience. 
Questions  as  to  the  expediency,  the  wisdom,  the  opportuneness  of 
such  movement,  he  was  ready  enough  to  consider.  But  the  ques- 
tion which  touched  the  principle  of  the  Christian  liberty  of  his 
brethren,  or  more  properly  that  of  their  Christian  subjection  to 
clear  convictions  of  duty,  this  was  one  with  which  he  refused  to 
have  concern.  There,  every  one  must  be  fully  persuaded,  as  to  his 
own  course,  "in  his  own  mind." 

No  less  strongly  did  he  object  to  the  course  of  some  of  his 
Evangelical  brethren  in  another  respect,  as  inconsistent  alike  with 
their  principles,  and  with  those  upon  which  the  Reformation  itself 
can  alone  be  justified:  that  of  committing  themselves,  in  the  ex- 
citement of  recoil  from  a  movement  which  they  feared,  to  a  course 
which  they  might  be  compelled  to  abandon.  The' public  declaration 
of  certain  Evangelical  clergymen,  that  the  movement  was  one  in 
which  they  had  no  sympathy,  he  regarded,  under  the  circumstances, 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  351 

as  gratuitous,  as,  indeed,  seeming  to  involve  the  confession  that  they 
were  properly  suspected,  and  needed  such  a  purge  to  take  away 
the  suspicion.  The  declarations,  again,  of  others,  by  which  they 
substantially  pledged  themselves,  unconditionally,  for  the  future,  to 
passive  obedience  to  all  possible  legislation  of  the  General  Conven- 
tion, he  regarded  as  not  only  unwise  and  inconsistent,  but  as  calcu- 
lated to  increase  the  evils  out  of  which  this  movement  originated. 
Those  evils,  to  his  mind,  were  palpable,  and  by  no  means  trifling. 
And  while  no  one  had  a  right  to  say  what  course  another  ought  to 
pursue,  in  view  of  them,  at  the  same  time  it  was  wrong  and  unwise 
for  any  one  to  speak  and  act  as  if  those  evils  had  no  real  existence. 
This  was  the  last  conversation  of  any  length  had  with  Dr.  Spar- 
row upon  subjects  of  this  character.  He  had  just  written  a  let- 
ter upon  the  subject,  to  a  brother  in  the  ministry,  touching,  these 
same  topics,  and  it  was  in  speaking  of  them  that  he  was  led  to  en- 
large in  the  manner  above  indicated. 

Since  writing  the  preceding  sketch  of  the  conversation  in  ques- 
tion, a  couple  of  letters  upon  the  subject,  one  of  them  two  or  three 
weeks  earlier  in  date,  and  the  other  a  few  days  before  his  death,  have 
been  received.  It  will  be  seen  that  they  touch  some  of  the  points  that 
have  been  mentioned.  A  portion  of  one  of  these  letters  has  been 
already  published,  and  at  the  time  was  followed  by  a  brief  discus- 
sion in  one  of  our  Church  papers  as  to  the  meaning  of  one  of  its 
paragraphs.  The  entire  letter,  especially  taken  in  connection  with 
others  (see  pages  299,  302,)  will  best  exhibit  the  correct  interpreta- 
tion of  that  paragraph,  or  of  any  other.  It  will  be  seen  that  it  was 
written  in  great  hurry,  and  confidentially;  and  it  is  only  in  view 
of  the  fact  that  a  portion  of  it  has  been  already  published,  that  it 
is  here  inserted. 

"December  12,  1873. 
"REV.. AND  DEAR  BROTHER: — 

"  I  am  not  sure  what  volume  of  Whateley's  you  saw  upon  my 
shelves,  to  which  you  refer.  Besides  his  text-books,  and  Cautions 
for  the  times,  there  are,  you  know,  two  or  three  series  of  Essays ; 
these  I  had,  but  lost  during  the  war ;  also  a  volume  of  miscellane- 
ous Lectures,  which  you  may  have  noticed  in  my  library,  and  a 
volume  made  up  of  his  Bampton  Lectures,  Archbishop  King's 
discourse  on  Predestination  and  an  Appendix,  and  Five  University 
Sermons.  This  must  have  been  the  volume  you  inquire  about. 


352  MEMOIR    OP 

There  has  never  been  a  complete  collection  of  Archbishop  Whate- 
ley's  works  published.  According  to  Allibone,  he  issued,  during 
his  life,  about  ninety  distinct  publications  !  He  was  a  wondrously 
active  man,  and  as  accurate  and  lucid  as  he  was  prolific.  Any  I 
have  I  shall  be  happy  to  loan  you. 

"  I  agree  with  you  in  your  sentiments  about  Bishop  Cummins. 
I  am,  of  course,  often  questioned,  '  Well,  Doctor,  what  do  you  think 
of  the  Bishop  Cummins  movement?'  My  uniform  answer  is  the 
counsel  of  Gamaliel.  It  is  painful  to  me  to  see  how  Evangelical 
men,  so-called,  join  in  the  hue  and  cry  against  him,  just  as  if  there 
never  had  been  any  agreement  between  him  and  them.  That  decla- 
ration !  The  life,  for  long  years,  of  its  signers,  proves  the  reverse 
of  that  disclaimer.  All  Evangelical  Episcopalians  have  had  and 
professed  the  same  grievances,  and  have  contemplated  the  possi- 
bility of  a  secession  in  consequence.  How,  then,  when  one  of  their 
number  makes  the  possibility  actual,  can  they,  in  a  moment,  reverse 
the  engine  and  move  backward?  They  might  think  Cummins' 
mode  of  procedure  unwise,  but  the  procedure  itself  is  only  what 
their  hearts  have  been  craving  for  a  quarter  of  a  century.  I  had 
a  letter  from  New  York,  this  evening,  saying  this  movement  is 
likely  to  spread.  If  it  should,  it  will  certainly  ease  the  yoke  from 
our  neck.  Some  fear  that  the  next  General  Convention  will  tighten 
the  screws  yet  further.  I  hold  the  very  opposite.  Who  knows  but 
God  means  to  use  Bishop  Cummins  as  an  instrument  for  our  release 
from  the  bondage  imposed  by  a  heartless  majority,  who  will  not 
believe  in  the  scruples  of  tender  consciences'?  His  success  might 
liberalize  us,  and  bring  him  and  us  together  again,  and  put  an  end 
to  the  schism.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  our  General  Convention 
should  become  more  stringent  toward  Low-Churchmen,  and  more 
indulgent  toward  High-Churchmen,  then  the  Eeformed  Episcopal 
Church  would  be  a  city  of  refuge,  and  soon  overshadow  its  rival. 
The  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  needs  only  to  be  liberalized,  and 
rid  of  Romish  germs,  to  overspread  this  Continent,  at  least  in  the 
upper  and  middle  state  of  society. 

"  The  false  and  exaggerated  notions  about  schism  do  us  much 
harm.  There  are  already  at  least  four  Episcopal  Churches  in  the 
United  States.  Where  is  the  great  harm  if  a  fifth  should  be  added, 
especially  when  it  would  give  peace  where  there  is  now  war,  and 
where  the  Gospel  would  be  better  suited  to  the  varied  wants  of 
society  thereby?  But  I  stop.  I  have  written  in  a  great  hurry, 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  353 

and  for  you  alone.     In  my  hurry  I  have  written  on  two  sheets  as 
one. 

"Affectionately,  WILLIAM  SPARROW." 

"  I  suppose,"  is  his  language  to  another  of  his  pupils  in  a  differ- 
ent direction,  "  I  suppose  you  Bostonians  are  not  moved  by  Bishop 
Cummins'  movement  as  are  the  New  Yorkers.  Massachusetts,  like 
Virginia,  is  far  away  from  the  vortex  of  the  whirlpool.  Still,  to 
all  Episcopalians,  it  is  a  matter  of  no  little  interest  whether  it 
prove  a  success  or  a  failure.  For  myself,  I  am  disposed  to  regard 
the  prospects  of  our  Church  brighter  now  than  they  have  ever 
been  in  my  day.  If  this  schism  is  a  good  (as  schisms  may  be), 
it  is  a  good;  if  it  is  an  evil,  I  am  sanguine  that  God  will  bring  good 
out  of  it.  At  least,  so  ought  we  to  pray." 

Thus  trustingly  and  hopefully  he  left  this  movement  and  all  the 
complications  connected  with  it  to  the  Divine  disposal.  The  letter 
containing  this  extract  was  written  on  the  fourteenth  of  January, 
only  three  days  before  his  death.  As  respects  our  undertaking,  it 
closes  his  correspondence ;  the  last  expression  of  his  spirit  of  faith 
and  hopeful  prayer,  that  in  the  movements  and  troubles  spoken  of, 
as  in  all  others,  God  would  overrule  them  for  goo'd,  and  to  the 
advancement  of  His  kingdom. 

At  the  Semi-Centennial  a  plan  had  been  proposed  by  which 
$100,000  could  be  collected,  so  as  to  place  the  funds  of  the  Semi- 
nary in  the  same  condition  as  before  their  loss  during  the  earlier 
portion  of  the  year.  The  peculiar  depression  in  the  financial  state 
of  the  country  seemed  to  render  it  inexpedient  to  carry  out  this 
plan  at  the  time,  and  there  was,  therefore,  a  necessity  for  some 
provisional  effort  until  this  could  be  done.  At  the  request  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees,  Dr.  Sparrow  undertook  this  by  seeking  subscrip- 
tions, for  the  next  three  years,  to  the  extent  of  the  deficiency.  This 
work  he  began  in  Washington  and  Georgetown,  prosecuted  after- 
ward in  Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  and  New  York,  successfully 
ending  it  with  a  subscription  between  $7000  and  $8000  more, 
indeed,  than  he  had  expected.  The  writer  remembers  with  pecu- 
liar interest  the  Doctor's  farewell  call,  before  starting,  a  little  after 
sunrise,  on  the  nineteenth  of  December.  He  was  in  fine  spirits, 
telling  of  the  omens  of  success  already  received,  and  of  his  expecta- 
tions through  certain  agencies  and  in  certain  localities ;  and  while 
23 


354  MEMOIR    OP 

not  at  all  liking  the  kind  of  work  upon  which  he  was  going,  was 
very  hopeful  as  to  the  final  result.  During  his  tour,  which  extended 
through  the  next  three  weeks,  terminating  on  the  seventh  of  Janu- 
ary, letters  were  received  which  created  some  uneasiness,  lest  he 
might  be  over-exerting  himself;  and  this  was  increased  by  reports 
of  his  appearance  from  persons  who  had  seen  him  in  New  York. 
His  own  letters  were  cheerful,  although  speaking  of  his  weakness ; 
and  just  before  his  return  he  wrote,  announcing  the  successful  re- 
sult. The  special  danger  feared  by  friends  at  home  was  that  he 
might  contract  a  cold  like  that  of  the  spring  of  1872,  and  1873, 
which  would  trouble  him  for  the  remainder  of  the  winter.  But 
when  he  got  back,  suffering,  apparently,  only  the  effects  of  travel 
and  exertion,  the  expectation  was  that  in  a  few  days  he  would  be 
able  to  resume  his  duties.  This  was  on  Thursday,  the  eighth  of 
January.  The  writer  saw  him  the  next  day,  jaded  by  his  travel, 
but  up  at  his  desk  upon  a  letter,  and  very  cheerful  in  view  of  his 
success.  His  account  of  some  of  the  incidents  of  his  trip  was  full 
of  interest,  as  were  some  of  his  descriptions  of  the  different  moods 
in  which  he  was  met  by  different  contributors.  All,  however,  re- 
ceived him  pleasantly;  from  none  had  he  met  a  rebuff.  "When," 
said  he,  speaking,  during  the  next  few  days,  to  some  of  the  ladies 
on  the  Hill,  of  his  going  on  his  rounds  in  New  York,  "  when  I 
walked  up  the  marble  steps  of  some  of  those  private  palaces,  I 
used  sometimes  to  think  of  the  lines  in  the  beggar's  petition : — 

"  Pity  the  sorrows  of  a  poor  old  man, 
Whose  trembling  limbs  have  borne  him  to  your  door." 

"Why,  Doctor,"  said  one  of  his  listeners,  "did  not  Dr.  M.  go  with 
you?"  "Oh,  he  was  begging  for  himself,"  was  the  reply;  "beggars 
never  travel  in  company." 

On  Saturday  afternoon,  January  10th,  I  called  to  see  whether 
he  would  not  prefer  that  I  should  take  his  place  in  the  pulpit  of 
the  chapel  next  day,  it  being  his  Sunday  in  regular  course,  so  as 
to  allow  him  fully  to  recruit,  and  preach  on  my  day,  the  Sunday 
following.  He  was  lying  upon  a  lounge  in  his  study,  but  only  for 
temporary  change  of  position ;  and  decided  that,  as  he  had  been 
away  so  long,  he  would  undertake  the  morning  sermon,  but  ex- 
change for  the  night.  My  visit  was  very  brief,  as  there  was  a  call 
in  a  different  direction. 

His  sermon  on  Sunday  morning,  his  last,  was  from  the  text, 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  355 

"This  is  a  faithful  saying,  and  worthy  of  all  acceptation,  that 
Jesus  Christ  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners."  Portions  of  it 
were  delivered  apparently  with  comfort  and  freedom.  There  was 
one  part  in  which  there  was  something  of  hesitation,  and  one  or 
two  of  his  hearers  supposed  it  was  from  failing  to  recognize  the 
contents  of  the  manuscript,  or  from  passing  over  portions,  as  he 
was  often  in  the  habit  of  doing.  His  own  explanation,  after  finish- 
ing, was  that  of  his  weakness ;  that  he  had  not  entirely  recovered 
from  the  fatigue  of  his  journey.  He  did  not  venture  out  any  more 
during  the  day. 

On  Monday  he  went  to  Alexandria,  to  meet  some  visitors  from 
a  distance,  as  also  Dr.  Riley,  from  Mexico,  who  had  promised  to 
address  the  students  in  regard  to  the  mission  in  that  country. 
Filling  his  carriage  with  his  visitors,  he  started  homeward  on  foot, 
but  was  taken  up  very  soon  by  a  neighbor.  He  was  apparently 
well,  and  in  good  spirits,  during  Dr.  Riley 's  lecture,  and,  at 
the  request  of  Bishop  Johns,  closed  the  meeting  with  prayer. 
He  had  made  arrangements,  in  view  of  his  fatigue,  that 
this  should  be  done  by  another  member  of  the  Faculty, 
and  when  the  Bishop  called  upon  him  was  taken  by  surprise, 
and  showed  greater  evidence  of  languor  than  at  any  time  during 
the  evening.  It  was  indeed  the  first  and  only  time,  in  thirty-four 
years'  acquaintanceship,  that  the  writer  had  witnessed  anything 
like  it,  in  which  the  effort  of  prayer  did  not  seem  to  elevate  the 
spirit  above  the  conditions  of  bodily  infirmity.  Looking  at  it  now, 
it  can  be  recognized  as  a  reason  for  alarm.  But  the  explanation 
afforded  in  the  fatigues  of  the  day  seemed  perfectly  satisfactory. 

The  next  afternoon,  after  the  recitation  of  the  day,  he  went  to 
Alexandria  to  hear  a  second  lecture  from  Dr.  Riley,  in  one  of  the 
churches;  and  on  Thursday  night,  at  the  Faculty  meeting,  he 
opened,  after  prayer,  with  remarks  upon  the  passage :  "  Not  sloth- 
ful in  business,  fervent  in  spirit,  serving  the  Lord."  This,  like  the 
sermon  of  the  Sunday  preceding,  was  most  appropriate,  as  termi- 
nating a  course  so  beautifully  described  in  this  passage ;  the  sermon 
exhibiting  the  mode  of  salvation  to  lost  sinners;  the  address,  the 
work  of  these  sinners  redeemed  from  death,  in  a  state  of  gracious 
life  and  salvation.  After  the  prayer-meeting,  there  was  a  brief, 
informal  conference  of  the  Faculty,  in  regard  to  excusing  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Seminary  from  a  part  of  the  course.  This  he  opposed, 
in  view  of  the  interests  of  the  petitioner,  as  of  those  of  the  Seminary, 


356  MEMOIR    OF 

and  the  excuse  was  not  granted.  On  Friday,  the  recitation  was  as 
usual ;  the  subject  of  an  essay  on  the  bearing  of  Titus,  chapter  ii, 
verse  13,  on  the  Deity  of  Christ,,  given  out,  in  course,  to  a  mem- 
ber of  the  class  for  the  next  recitation ;  and  the  week's  work,  the 
life's  work,  of  teaching — the  last  recitation — had  ended ! 

During  the  evening  of  that  day  Mr.  Cassius  Lee  called  on  him, 
and  had  a  long  conversation,  finding  him  cheerful  and  apparently 
well.  He  received  by  the  mail  of  this  evening  a  letter  from  Kev. 
D.  D.  Smith,  describing  his  settlement  in  a  new  and  pleasant  parish, 
with  which  he  was  greatly  pleased.  The  Doctor  had  advised  the 
move;  hence  his  delight  in  that,  as  in  other  things  connected. 

On  Saturday  morning,  January  17th,  he  determined  to  go  to 
Alexandria.     Mr.  Nelson,  a  member  of  the  senior  class,  having  a 
matter  of  business,  saw  him  just  before  he  started,  his  spirits  buoy- 
ant, and  illustrating  in  his  conversation,  as  was  often  his  wont,  some 
of  the  matters  spoken  of,  by  incidents  of  his  boyhood  in  Ireland. 
The  morning  was  very  bright  and  clear,  but  extremely  cold.     It 
was,  indeed,  a  part  of  the  coldest  season  of  that  winter;  and  as  the 
ground  was  covered  with  snow,  there  was  a  very  peculiar  sharp- 
ness in  the  atmosphere.     ''The  Doctor,"  says  Miss  B.,  "rose  that 
morning  as  well,  apparently,  as  usual.     He  said  that  he  had  slept 
better  than  he  usually  did.     During  breakfast  he  was  led  to  speak 
of  Dr.  Muhlenburg's  hymn,  '  I  would  not  live  alway,'  and  remarked 
that  it  had  made  the  name  of  Dr.  M.  immortal,  aside  from  Saint 
Luke's  Hospital  and  his  other  great  works.     After  eating  quite  a 
hearty  breakfast,  he  held  family  prayer.    The  morning  was  cold.    As 
was  his  frequent  custom,  he  prayed  especially  for  the  poor,  asking 
God's  care  and  comfort  for  them  according  to  their  need.     He  prayed 
for  the  heathen  world,  and  thanked  God,  with  more  than  usual  fervor, 
for  the  unparalleled  blessings  of  our  own  favored  country,  resulting 
from  the  light  of  Christianity,  asking  for  aid  to  work  faithfully  in 
that  light  to  the  end.     Then  he  prayed  for  his  scattered  family, 
and  for  their  spiritual  interest.     We  joined,  as  ever,  in  the  Lord's 
prayer,  and  he  ended  with  the  benediction,  which  he  never  omitted. 
I  feel  that  the  prayer  and  benediction  abide  with  us. 

"About  nine  o'clock  we  started  for  Alexandria.  It  was  his  fre- 
quent custom  to  go  in  to  town  with  me  when  I  went  to  market  on 
Saturday  morning.  We  chatted  all  the  way.  During  the  ride,  in 
speaking  of  a  clergyman  of  Philadelphia,  Dr.  M.,  he  remarked  that, 
as  a  class,  .the  clergy  were,  of  .all  men,  the  most  hard-worked. 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  357 

'Others/  said  he,  'work  from  a  more  tangible  motive,  some  desire 
or  ambition  that  will  not  let  the  laboring  powers  rest.  A  minister 
of  the  gospel  must  often  labor  when  these  are  against  him.'  I  ven- 
tured to  reply  that  '  he  ought  to  remember  that  his  work  is  the  great- 
est of  all  works.'  'And  yet/  said  he,  'this,  his  best  incentive  to  the 
particular  kind  of  work,  is  often  the  chief  cause  of  his  depression. 
The  incomparable  magnitude  and  importance  of  the  work,  and  the 
weakness  of  the  instrument,  is,  to  say  the  least,  rather  humbling 
when  reflected  upon.  But  the  humble  instrument  is  in  the  hands 
of  the  great  Master  Workman.'  He  seemed  less  abstracted  and 
more  talkative  than  he  usually  was,  and  I  rather  exerted  myself  to 
keep  up  the  flow,  with  the  news  and  gossip  of  the  neighborhood, 
and  this  and  that  that  had  accumulated  during  his  absence  at  the 
North,  and  the  following  busy  week.  He  appeared  interested,  and 
told  me  some  of  his  traveling  experiences.  I  remember  nothing 
remarkable  in  them,  or  in  his  conversation,  except  that  just  men- 
tioned, about  the  work  of  the  clergy. 

"Before  I  left  him,"  after  getting  to  Alexandria,  "at  Mr.  En- 
twisle's,  he  spoke  of  a  pain  in  his  chest.  I  feared  he  had  taken 
cold;  he  thought  not."  After  Miss  B.  left  him,  he  attempted  to 
warm  himself  at  the  stove,  and  became  apparently  more  comfort- 
able. Leaving  the  store,  with  a  pleasant  remark  to  Mr.  E.  that  he 
had  no  money  to  pay  him  a  little  account  due,  but  would  have  some 
when  he  got  back,  he  pursued  his  way  to  the  bank,  with  the  intent 
of  getting  cashed  a  check  in  his  possession.  On  his  way  there  he 
became  very  much  indisposed,  and  making  his  condition  known  to 
his  friend  Mr.  H.,  the  cashier,  he  was  aided  by  him  to  an  apart- 
ment in  the  building,  and  a  physician  sent  for  immediately.  "  When 
I  arrived,"  said  Dr.  B.,  "I  found  him  perfectly  intelligent,  but  with 
little  or  no  warmth  upon  the  surface  of  the  skin,  and  almost  pulse- 
less. He  remarked  that  he  supposed,  from  the  description  of  it  in 
the  books,  his  attack  must  be  angina  pectoris;  and  upon  my  pre- 
scribing stimulant,  made  some  objection,  but  yielded  and  took  it. 
I  sent  immediately  for  other  remedies,  to  produce  reaction,  but  a 
spasm  came  on,  and  in  a  few  moments  he  was  gone."  To  use  his 
own  language,  applied  to  the  sudden  departure  of  a  brother  in  the 
ministry,  a  few  years  before,  "it  was  like  an  apotheosis."  Saving 
the  fulfillment  of  one  desire  he  had  been  known  to  express,  that  "he 
might  be  permitted  to  go  to  Heaven  from  his  home  on  the  Seminary 
Hill,"  his  departure  was  just  what  he  would  have  chosen. 


358  MEMOIR    OP 

Dr.  B.  was  ratter  disposed  to  acquiesce  in  the  opinion  of  the 
patient  as  to  the  nature  of  his  attack.  No  suspicion  of  such  dis- 
ease had  previously  existed.  The  specific  knowledge  of  its  symp- 
toms was  probably  acquired  within  the  year  or  two  previous,  and 
in  connection  with  Mrs.  Sparrow's  sickness.  Whatever  the  nature 
of  the  attack,  whether  this  or  something  else,  it  is  not  improbable 
that  the  extreme  cold  of  the  morning  had  its  share  in  bringing  it 
on.  Most  merciful  it  was,  in  the  manner  of  his  departure,  as  in  its 
attendant  circumstances. 

The  whole  progress  of  the  attack  was  so  rapid  and  brief  that 
there  was  no  opportunity  of  summoning  the  only  member  of  his 
family  at  the  Seminary,  three  miles  off,  his  fellow  Professors  or 
brethren  of  the  ministry,  residing  in  Alexandria.  Rev.  Dr.  Sprigg 
got  to  the  house  a  short  time  after  death;  others  soon  followed, 
and  in  a  little  while  the  sad  intelligence  spread  through  the  com- 
munity. 

"When,"  says  Miss  B.,  "we  parted  at  Mr.  Entwisle's,  I  asked 
him  if  I  should  find  him  there  when  ready  to  return  home.  He 
answered  rather  absently  in  the  affirmative;  and  I  parted  from 
him  never  to  see  him  alive  again  in  this  world.  When  my  busi- 
ness was  finished,  and  I  stopped  for  him  at  the  appointed  place,  two 
of  the  students  met  me.  I  soon  gathered  from  their  pale  faces  and 
rather  incoherent  words  that  the  Doctor  was  very  ill  at  the  bank. 
I  alighted  from  the  laden  carriage,  and  walked  down  there  as  rapidly 
as  possible.  The  friends  that  were  with  him  were  just  closing  his 
eyes." 

The  sad  intelligence  reached  the  Seminary  between  eleven  and 
twelve  o'clock,  and  in  the  course  of  the  next  few  hours  his  remains 
were  brought  out  and  deposited  in  the  parlor  of  his  residence.  A 
change  meantime  had  taken  place  in  the  atmosphere.  The  sharp- 
ness of  the  morning  had  passed  away,  and  it  had  become  one  of 
those  bright,  mild,  spring  days  in  winter,  so  beautiful,  but  so  inex- 
pressibly sad,  in  the  shadow  of  the  great  grief  which  had  fallen 
upon  us.  That  Saturday  of  surprise,  and  bereavement,  and  diffi- 
culty of  realization  as  to  what  had  taken  place,  and  the  following 
Sunday  of  sorrowful  assurance  of  loss,  may  better  be  imagined 
than  described;  will  scarcely,  by  those  who  were  present,  ever 
be  forgotten.  It  was  felt  to  be  a  sorrow  common  to  all,  and  yet 
personal  to  each  one;  to  his  family,  and  colleagues,  and  students, 
to  his  aged  Diocesan,  as  to  his  brethren  and  pupils  in  the  min- 


WILLIAM    SPAR,  ROW,   D.  D.  359 

istry,  to  the  neighborhood,  including  the  youths  of  the  neighbor- 
ing Institution,  and  the  young  of  all  classes,  among  his  acquaint- 
ance. Very  peculiar  feelings  of  reverence  and  affection,  in  his 
intercourse  with  all  these,  he  had  called  forth.  And  the  sudden- 
ness of  his  departure  only  seemed  to  deepen  the  feelings  with  which 
it  was  connected.  Those  feelings  were  not,  indeed,  entirely  sor- 
rowful. There  were  others  of  gratitude  to  God,  and  to  him,  for 
all  that  he  had  been  in  the  past,  as  a  teacher,  and  friend,  and  coun- 
sellor; of  solemn  joy  in  the  assurance  that  the  endless  future 
would  be  even  better  with  him  than  the  past ;  that  the  few  mysteri- 
ous moments  of  pain  to  him,  and  of  shock  and  surprise  to  those 
who  remained,  had  been  really  a  blessed  translation ;  a  translation 
to  a  higher  sphere  of  excellence,  and  of  employment  in  the  service 
of  a  Heavenly  Master.  "Absent  from  the  body,  at  home  with 
Christ  the  Lord." 

Appropriate  tributes  to  his  memory  were  rendered  in  the 
churches  of  Alexandria  and  elsewhere,  on  Sunday  and  the  Sunday 
following.  In  the  Seminary  chapel,  which  had  been  draped  by  the 
students,  there  was  no  regular  sermon ;  but  the  Bishop,  after  the 
reading  of  the  service  in  the  morning,  made  an  address,  appropriate 
to  the  time  and  occasion.  The  Psalter  for  the  day,  the  eighteenth 
of  the  month,  began  with  the  ninetieth  Psalm,  and  the  Epistle  for  the 
day,  the  second  Sunday  after  Epiphany,  contained  the  passage  upon 
which  the  Doctor  had  remarked  on  the  Thursday  night  preceding. 
The  tears  were  near  the  surface,  and  even  flowing  more  than  once, 
with  many,  as  the  whole  service  went  on.  It  was  only,  indeed, 
with  effort  that  those  officiating,  as  those  listening,  were  able, 
at  times,  to  restrain  them.  But  in  the  surprise  of  the  passage 
from  the  Epistle,  and  the  rush  of  feeling  which  it  produced,  it 
seemed,  for  a  few  seconds,  as  if  it  would  be  difficult  to  go  on.  The 
Bishop,  however,  who  was  reading,  recovered  himself,  and  the 
service  proceeded.  There  was  again  service  at  night,  and  sermon 
on  the  translation  of  Enoch. 

The  funeral  took  place  on  Tuesday  morning.  Opportunity  had 
thus  been  given  for  the  arrival  of  distant  members  of  the  family, 
as  also  of  many  of  the  Alumni  from  neighboring  cities  and  parishes. 
The  services  were  conducted  and  addresses  made  by  the  Bishop 
and  by  Dr.  Andrews,  so  soon  himself  to  follow,  and  the  mournful 
procession,  consisting  of  the  students  of  the  Seminary  and  the  pupils 
of  the  High  School,  the  clergy  from  a  distance,  and  friends  from 


360  MEMOIR    OP 

Alexandria  and  the  neighborhood,  took  its  way  to  the  place 
appointed  for  all  living.  Temporarily  only,  we  trust,  his  remains 
were  deposited  in  one  of  the  cemeteries  of  Alexandria,  to  be 
removed  to  the  grounds  of  that  Seminary  which  he  loved  so  well, 
and  for  which,  during  more  than  the  third  of  a  century,  he  so 
successfully  and  abundantly  labored. 

Our  task  has  reached  its  close.  A  few  words,  in  the  way  of 
summary,  will  not  be  out  of  place,  especially  as  calling  attention 
to  traits  of  character,  incidentally  brought  to  view  in  the  preced- 
ing narrative,  but  not,  in  any  one  of  such  incidents,  fully  exhibited. 
The  portraiture  of  individual  character  is,  of  course,  most  apt  to 
be  reflected  from  the  faithful  record  of  individual  action  and  feel- 
ing. Peculiarly  is  this  the  case  where  such  record  is  made  in  the 
form  of  correspondence,  the  spontaneous  outflow  of  heart  and  charac- 
ter in  the  unreserve  of  friendly  communication.  Such  record,  with 
the  material  at  command,  we  have  attempted  to  give.  One  or  two 
features,  not  contained  in  such  material,  or  brought  out  but  imper- 
fectly, may,  for  a  brief  space,  and  as  closing  our  undertaking,  be 
dwelt  upon.  And,  here,  as  in  previous  portions  of  our  undertak- 
ing, we  gladly  use  the  language  and  impressions  of  others. 

Among  these,  and,  perhaps,  one  of  the  first  recognized,  and  ever 
afterward  felt,  was  his  genuine  humanity,  his  genial  and  cordial  inter- 
est in  his  fellow-creatures,  of  all  classes,  with  whom  he  was  brought 
in  contact.  "Dr.  Sparrow,"  to  use  the  language  of  Dr.  McKim; 
"loved  his  kind  as  truly  as  any  man  I  ever  knew.  Notwithstand- 
ing his  elevation  of  mind,  and  his  reach  and  compass  of  thought, 
he  was  truly  a  man  among  men.  He  could,  and  did,  descend  from 
the  lofty  region  of  reflection  and  speculation  in  which  he  dwelt, 
easily  and  cheerfully,  to  mingle  with  the  humblest,  to  converse 
with  the  most  unlearned,  and  all  with  a  simplicity  of  heart  and 
genuine  human  sympathy  which  charmed  all  who  met  him." 
"What  a  difference,"  was  his  remark  once  to  a  friend,  as  they  were 
riding  together  in  a  funeral  procession,  and  some  children  were 
seen  hurrying  by  to  the  place  of  burial,  "what  a  difference  in  their 
views  of  life  and  ours."  In  a  few  moments  afterward  he  was 
helping  some  of  them  into  the  vehicle,  and  with  pleasant  words 
making  room  for  their  accommodation.  Different  as  might  have 
been  his  views  of  life  from  many  of  those  around  him,  there  were 
always  points  of  sympathetic  contact  and  pleasant  feeling,  which 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  361 

he  immediately  recognized.  In  this  there  was  no  condescension 
— none  actually — none  in  the  appearance.  It  was  the  expression 
of  his  real  feelings,  a  cordial  interest  in  his  fellow-creatures,  really 
entering  into  their  objects  and  interests,  and,  so  far  as  they  could  be 
approved,  desiring  their  advancement.  This  constituted  very 
largely  the  charm  of  intercourse  with  his  pupils.  Few  of  these 
pupils  will  forget  their  first  interview,  and  the  impressions  then 
received,  those  impressions  as  confirmed  and  deepened  by  subse- 
quent acquaintance.  He  was  ever  ready  to  hear  of  their  difficulties, 
intellectual,  spiritual,  pecuniary ;  prompt  to  plan  for  them,  and  aid 
them  to  the  extent  of  his  ability.  And,  when  no  such  difficulty 
had  existence,  he  was  at  all  times  ready  to  be  in  communication 
with  them,  to  listen  to  their  views  and  questions,  whether  as  to 
facts  or  opinions,  and  to  respond  freely  with  his  own.  So,  too, 
outside  of  the  circle  of  Seminary  association.  There  was  a  warmth 
of  sunshine  in  his  presence  that  made  itself  felt  alike  in  his  social 
intercourse  and  with  his  brethren  of  the  ministry  everywhere. 
"  Which  of  the  humblest  or  youngest  of  these  latter  ever  carried  to 
him  his  perplexities,  or  doubts,  or  anxieties,  or  disappointments, 
and  failed  to  find  a  ready,  responsive  sympathy?  What  appeal 
for  the  relief  of  the  poor  or  the  suffering  ever  met  a  rebuff  from 
that  kind  heart?  When  did  that  liberal  hand,  poor  though  it  was, 
close  against  the  call  of  a  sister  or  brother  in  distress?  The 
stranger  from  a  foreign  land,  the  missionary  babe  whose  mother 
had  found  a  grave  beneath  the  burning  sands  of  Africa,  found  a 
home  beneath  that  humble  but  hospitable  roof,  and  shared  the 
best  that  a  meagre  purse  could  give.  No  wonder  that  strong  men 
stood  by  his  lifeless  clay  and  wept  as  little  children  weep  when 
their  father  is  taken  away  from  them !  No  wonder  that  they  who 
sat  at  his  feet  in  the  class-room,  who  leaned  on  his  arm  in  their 
earliest  trembling  steps  in  the  work  of  the  ministry,  and  took  sweet 
counsel  in  a  time  of  subsequent  need,  felt  that,  for  this  world,  the 
loss  was  irreparable !  Mere  intellectual  power,  capacity  of  suggest- 
ing thought  or  imparting  knowledge,  skill  in  teaching,  would  never 
have  called  forth  such  feelings.  They  constituted  the  heart-felt 
response  to  a  heart-felt  kindliness  and  cordiality." 

The  same  may  be  said,  in  many  respects,  as  to  his  teaching. 
The  same  spirit  of  perfect  naturalness  might  ever  be  recognized. 
To  use  the  language  of  one  of  his  pupils  already  quoted,  "he 
placed  himself  abreast  of  those  whom  he  taught.  He  did  not 


362  MEMOIR    OP 

stand  on  the  heights  of  truth  and  say, '  Come  up  hither  to  this  lofty 
eminence  I  have  reached,'  but  he  came  down  into  the  valley  where 
we  stood,  and  helped  us  to  climb.  And  he  was  able  to  do  this, 
partly  by  reason  of  his  childlike  humility,  partly  by  reason  of  his 
genuine  sympathy  with  the  young,  and  partly  by  reason  of  the 
fact  that  truth  never  became  trite  to  him,  but,  however  often 
repeated,  continued  fresh  and  living,  the  desire  and  rejoicing  of 
his  heart."  "  As  I  look  back,"  says  Rev.  Phillips  Brooks,  "  upon 
our  Seminary  days,  I  am  much  impressed  with  the  way  in  which 
Dr.  Sparrow  led  us  naturally  and  easily  into  a  study  which  was  so 
unfamiliar  to  most  of  us  when  we  went  there.  It  was  not  any- 
thing peculiar  in  his  way  of  teaching.  It  was  no  professor's  skill- 
ful trick.  It  must  have  been  something  very  human  about  the 
man,  which  made  his  scholars  feel  that  in  studying  theology  they 
were  doing  reasonable  work,  and  finding  the  highest  use  for  their 
best  faculties.  In  Dr.  Sparrow's  class-room  no  serious  question 
was  ever  left  unanswered.  No  student  was  ever  silenced  in  an 
earnest  inquiry  by  a  charge  of  irreverence.  Every  man  was  bidden 
to  use  his  powers.  The  result  was  that  the  whole  field  of  theology 
at  once  had  an  open  and  real  look  to  us.  It  was  not  a  region  of 
technicalities,  where  we  were  to  use  a  set  of  faculties  unknown  in 
ordinary  life.  The  same  powers  which  we  had  employed  as  stu- 
dents elsewhere  to  study  lower  things,  were  to  be  used  here  with 
deeper  solemnity  and  purity,  but  the  same  powers  still  to  learn  the 
things  of  God.  All  his  influence  led  us  to  a  rational  theology,  and 
his  daily  spirit  taught  us  that  such  a  theology  was  beautifully  con- 
sistent with  a  deep  and  tender  piety." 

"  Dr.  Sparrow  was  a  timid  man  about  some  things.  In  social  and 
political  matters  he  let  the  circumstances  in  which  he  found  himself 
direct  his  action,  even  when  they  did  not  convince  his  judgment. 
But  when  he  felt  himself  on  his  own  ground,  there  was  nothing  at 
all  of  this.  There  was  not  a  particle  of  cant  or  the  saying  of 
other  people's  words  in  his  religion.  Everything  he  said  was  real 
to  him,  and  whether  we  accepted  and  held  it  permanently  as  true 
or  not,  the  reality  with  which  he  said  and  believed  it  did  us  good. 
The  best  of  all  things  which  he  did  for  his  students,  was  to  teach 
them,  so  far  as  one  man  can  teach  another,  to  think  naturally  and 
earnestly,  and  never,  out  of  fear  or  fancied  piety,  to  say  a  thing 
they  did  not  mean.  The  degree  to  which  we  learned  this  lesson  of 
him,  or  rather  the  sense  of  how  earnestly  he  tried  to  teach  it  to  us, 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.   D.  363 

constitutes  the  deep  indebtedness  that  many  of  us  will  always  feel 
to  Dr.  Sparrow." 

"  I  might  speak  of  other  traits  which  were  very  delightful  in  him ; 
his  kindliness,  his  self-forgetfulness,  his  cordial  enjoyment  of  any 
good  thing  that  any  student  did,  his  humor,  and  simplicity,  and 
child-likeness.  All  his  students  remember  these ;  but  what  gave  the 
charm  to  them  all,  and  makes  the  Seminary  always  a  place  of  sacred 
associations,  is  the  genuineness  and  thorough  truthfulness  of  him 
under  whom  it  was  our  privilege  to  begin  the  study  of  theology." 
"He  sought,"  says  another,  "to  lead  men  to  the  investigation  of 
Scripture,  as  far  as  prescribed,  unbiased  by  prejudice,  unshackled 
by  a  previously  adopted  set  of  opinions.  For  himself,  he  was  as 
far  from  latitudinarianism  as  from  vacillation  of  mind  in  theologi- 
cal opinion.  He  saw  clearly  the  danger  of  attempting  .to  be  wise 
above  what  is  written  upon  many  points;  and  these,  therefore, 
whatever  his  speculations  concerning  them,  he  held  in  suspense, 
sub  judice,  as  he  himself  would  express  it.  He  saw  also  the 
temptation  to  which  the  adherents  of  a  system  were  exposed,  of 
straining  the  sense  of  Scripture  to  make  it  square  with  their  sys- 
tem, and  thus  making  human  philosophizings  the  measure  of  Di- 
vine verities."  And  we  may  add,  that  he  knew  nothing  in  his 
investigations,  and  in  the  suggestions  of  his  teaching,  for  purposes 
of  mere  speculation.  Truths  and  principles  were  exhibited  and 
handled  with  reference  to  their  practical  bearing.  They  were  liv- 
ing truths,  life-giving  principles,  pressing  upon  the  minds  and 
hearts,  and  through  these,  pervading  and  controlling,  the  life  and 
conduct. 

One  other  trait,  having  its  place  in  the  thorough  development  of 
his  own  character,  as  in  the  influence  of  that  character  upon  others, 
may  be  briefly  indicated :  his  carefulness  in  reference  to  what  are 
often  regarded  as  little  matters.  "  He  lived  and  labored,"  as  has 
been  said  of  him,  "in  the  light  of  great  principles.  These  were,  to 
him,  ever  the  solvents  of  every  difficulty  and  perplexity,  whether 
in  philosophy  or  in  theology."  And  the  power  and  thoroughly 
pervading  influence  of  these  principles  were  seen  in  the  minutest 
details  to  which  they  were  properly  applicable.  It  was  the  sub- 
stance of  a  part  of  his  annual  matriculating  address  to  the  students, 
that  they  should  give  conscience  its  full  place  and  power  in  all 
matters  of  Seminary  arrangement.  But  the  most  effective  mode 
in  which  that  exhortation  was  presented  was  in  his  own  constant 


364  MEMOIR    OP 

example.  No  class  ever  found  him  unprepared  for  the  particular 
matter,  in  its  details  as  in  the  general,  which  were  properly  the 
subject  of  recitation.  The  conscientious  and  careful  mastery  of 
the  details  in  their  place  and  order  had  given  him  his  mastery  of 
those  details  as  a  whole. 

Incidents  illustrative  of  the  same  spirit  and  habit  will  recur  to 
the  memory  of  his  pupils.  We  may  mention,  for  instance,  his  sin- 
gular retentiveness  of  memory  in  pecuniary  matters,  as  to  any- 
thing, the  smallest  trifle,  due  from  him  to  others,  and  this,  too, 
while  often  forgetful  of  what  was  due  from  others  to  him.  Not  less 
illustrative  of  the  same  trait,  may  be  mentioned  his  anxiety  in  his 
estimate  of  his  household  property  for  taxation,  lest  he  might  make 
it  below  the  proper  value;  his  solicitude  as  to  the  influence  upon 
the  students  of  certain  associations,  not  positively  evil,  but  still 
tending  to  worldliness  and  levity ;  his  carefulness  as  to  the  observ- 
ance of  the  Lord's  day,  and  to  the  discouragement  of  everything 
interfering  with  the  idea  of  its  sacredness.  These  are  but  illustra- 
tions. The  spirit  which  dictated  them  was  to  be  seen  everywhere. 
Duty,  like  truth,  was  recognized  as  a  sacred  thing.  His  constant 
and  manifest  effort  was  so  to  discharge  that  duty  that  every  obli- 
gation, and  in  all  its  details,  should  be  fully  met  and  honored.  He 
was  emphatically  a  man  of  principle,  high  moral  principle,  sancti- 
fied and  elevated  by  a  spirit  of  genuine  devotion.  "  Fifty  years 
ago,"  says  Dr.  McKim,  "he  had  put  away  earthly  ambition,  and 
ever  since,  with  single  eye  and  steadfast  purpose,  had  sought  those 
things  which  are  above.  He  had  committ  3d  his  ways  to  the  Lord, 
and  left  the  direction  of  his  steps  in  His  hands,  cheerfully  and 
trustfully  following  wheresoever  His  providence  led.  He  once  told 
me  that  it  was  a  source  of  unspeakable  satisfaction,  in  the  review 
of  his  life,  to  be  able  to  say  that  he  had  never  sought  a  position 
which  he  had  occupied."  It  is  not  possible  to  over-estimate  the  influ- 
ence of  this  upon  those  with  whom  he  came  in  contact,  particularly 
those  who  were  under  his  instruction  and  government.  This  gave 
direction  and  consistency  to  other  features  of  his  character  already 
mentioned.  His  power  of  intellect,  his  geniality,  his  naturalness, 
so  attractive  in  themselves,  were  thus  steadied  and  directed  to  the 
exercise  of  the  highest  form  of  beneficial  influence.  That,  after 
all,  which  was  of  most  value  to  his  pupils,  and  through  them,  in 
their  varied  spheres  of  labor,  to  the  Church,  was  the  impress,  not 
of  his  intellect,  of  his  theology,  or  of  his  social  nature,  but  of  his 


WILLIAM    SPAR  BOW,   D.  D.  365 

character,  the  pervading  and  controlling  spirit  of  duty,  of  sacred 
principle,  by  which  he  was  ever  manifestly  actuated.  If,  to  any 
degree,  we  have  succeeded  in  exhibiting  that  character,  and  thus 
extending  its  influence,  our  object  will  have  been  accomplished. 
"  The  path  of  the  just,  as  a  shining  light,  shining  more  and  more 
to  the  perfect  day,"  may  thus  become  a  light  to  the  footsteps  of 
others,  leading  them  to  a  world  of  heavenly  blessedness. 


366  MEMOIR    OF 


ADDRESS." 


To  those  of  us  who,  during  the  last  thirty  years  or  more,  on 
occasions  like  the  present,  have  been  preparing  to  leave  this  place 
for  their  first  fields  of  ministerial  trial,  as  to  those  who,  temporarily 
coming  back  from  those  fields,  have  renewed,  for  a  few  days,  the 
associations  of  Seminary  life,  there  comes  up  spontaneously  one 
revered  and  familiar  form,  as  almost  a  necessary  accompaniment, 
as,  indeed,  that  of  the  presiding  genius  of  our  Commencement 
exercises.  Here,  it  may  be,  as  on  special  occasions,  when  it  became 
his  duty  to  enunciate  and  enforce  some  of  those  great  principles 
which  controlled  his  own  thinking  and  action.  There,  at  that 
chancel,  presenting  some  of  his  pupils  for  their  reception  of  the 
ministerial  commission.  Or  there,  in  that  neighboring  study,  with 
genial  welcome  for  former  pupils  and  friends,  with  pleasant  remi- 
niscence of  previous  Seminary  intercourse,  or  with  profitable 
converse,  and  wise  suggestion  as  to  future  ministerial  labor.  With 
many,  indeed,  it  was  the  distinct  anticipation  of  such  converse  that 
helped  to  bring  them  here;  sometimes  to  seek  advice  and  counsel 
for  pastoral  work,  sometimes  as  needed  for  issues  of  personal 
duty.  It  was  felt  that  his  sympathy  was  ever  ready  and  cordial, 
that  his  advice  was  not  apt  to  lead  astray,  and  that  personal  com- 
munion with  him  was  not  only  pleasant,  but  full  of  improvement 
and  elevation.  As  we  passed  from  this  brief  intercourse  to  our 
respective  homes,  we  had  something  more  to  think  about.  Old 
truths  were  seen  in  a  new  light,  and  with  new  applications,  or  new 
truths  and  duties  were  recognized,  to  quicken  our  sense  of  obliga- 
tion, to  enliven  our  hearts,  and  to  call  into  more  vigorous  exercise 
our  practical  activities.  "As  iron  brighteneth  iron,"  so  were  our 
countenances  brightened  by  that  of  our  teacher  and  friend. 

That  revered  and  familiar  form  we  no  longer  see.  Very  sud- 
denly was  he  taken  from  our  midst.  So  suddenly  was  it  with  him, 

*  At  the  Annual  Commencement  of  the  Seminary,  June  25, 1874.| 


WILLIAM    SPARRO  W,   D.  D.  3  >7 

that  in  all  probability  he  had  passed  through  the  dark  valley  before 
he  was  distinctly  aware  that  he  was  in  it.  So  suddenly  was  it  with 
us,  that  before  danger  was  known,  or  apprehension  felt,  our  calam- 
ity was  overpassed,  his  translation  and  our  bereavement  had  been 
accomplished.  Without  any  break  of  work,  the  week's  recitations 
had  closed  the  day  before ;  he  had  fulfilled  his  appointment  in  the 
pulpit  the  previous  Sunday,  and  opened  the  Faculty  meeting  on 
Thursday  evening;  on  his  day  of  weekly  relaxation,  "a  time  to 
die,"  the  summons  came  for  speedy  departure.  Like  Elisha  and 
the  sons  of  the  Prophets,  we  found  that  our  teacher  had  been  taken 
from  us,  had  himself  passed  into  the  higher  school  of  heavenly 
acquisition.  I  need  not  speak  of  the  shadow  of  that  day,  and  of 
the  days  following,  which  rested  upon  our  hearts  and  in  our  homes  ; 
of  that  bright  Sunday  morning,  the  darkest  that  was  ever  known 
on  this  Hill,  when,  as  a  bereaved  community,  we  first  met  for  wor- 
ship in  this  building;  of  the  sadness  in  view  of  our  loss,  and  yet 
of  the  solemn  joy  in  view  of  the  legacy  of  his  example,  &s  of  his 
endless  gain,  with  which,  a  few  days  afterward,  we  followed  his 
remains  to  the  place  appointed  for  all  living.  Of  these  things  we 
do  not  now  need  to  speak.  Our  task  is  rather  with  the  present 
moment.  We  stand  to-day,  as  we  did  on  that  day  of  his  departure, 
mindful,  indeed,  of  our  loss,  but  at  the  same  time  grateful  to  the 
Giver  of  all  good  for  what  permanently  remains;  for  what,  through 
him  who  has  gone,  many  of  us  have  received;  those  "truths," 
awakened  in  us  through  his  instrumentality,  "to  perish  never;" 
that  example  of  Christian  simplicity,  of  godly  sincerity,  of  diligent 
effort,  of  cheerful  exertion,  in  its  influence  so  powerful  and  quick- 
ening. It  is  as  introductory  to  the  contemplation  of  that  example, 
and  of  some  of  the  features  of  character  thus  exhibited,  that  these 
remarks  have  been  made.  The  portion  of  time  ordinarily  devoted 
to  the  present  exercise  may  be  made  use  of  for  this  purpose.  And 
I  feel  that  in  thus  using  it  I  am  consulting  not  only  my  own 
inclinations,  but  those  of  my  hearers.  It  will  not,  moreover,  be 
unprofitable,  nor  alien  from  the  usual  purpose  of  these  occasions,  to 
give  our  attention  to  this  topic;  to  look  at  some  of  those  features, 
and  to  contemplate  some  of  those  elements,  intellectual  and  moral, 
which  made  our  departed  preceptor  what  he  was,  which  enabled 
him  to  impress  himself  so  powerfully  upon  the  men  of  his  day  and 
generation,  especially  upon  those  under  his  instruction.  When  "a 
great  man  falls  in  Israel,"  it  is  well  for  Israel  to  pause,  and  ask, 


868  MEMOIR    OP 

and  try  to  find  out,  what  constitutes  his  greatness;  wherein  was 
the  secret  of  his  power,  of  his  influence,  so  widely  and  beneficially 
exerted.  The  answer  to  these  and  similar  questions  will  usually  be 
found  in  such  investigation  as  has  been  suggested.  The  man  did 
what  he  did  because  he  was  what  he  was.  If  we  would  know  the 
secret  of  his  power,  we  must  know  the  secret  of  his  character,  the 
peculiar  elements  of  his  moral  personality. 

We  thus  naturally  have  our  topic,  the  Theological  Instructor, 
the  elements  which  give  success  to  him  in  his  work  of  teaching 
those  who  are  themselves  to  be  teachers,  enabling  him  successfully 
to  train  and  fit  men  for  the  gospel  ministry.  This  topic,  in  the 
circumstances  of  the  present  moment,  we  can  look  at  in  the  concrete. 
We  can  thus  recognize  the  correctness  of  certain  general  principles, 
can  verify  those  principles  in  their  personal  illustration. 

First,  then,  as  essential  to  the  highest  success  in  this  high  voca- 
tion, the  theological  teacher,  as  the  teacher  of  science,  of  art,  or 
literature,  must  have,  in  a  most  important  sense  of  the  word,  a  call 
to  his  work;  not  that  Divine  call  which  comes  through  the  special 
influence  of  the  Holy  Ghost  upon  the  heart  and  life,  but  that  Divine 
call  which  comes  through  the  natural,  that  is,  the  Divine  endowment 
of  special  tastes  and  capacities.  In  other  words,  he  must  be  a  born 
teacher,  must  have  a  natural  aptness  and  capacity  for  his  calling. 
It  is  just  as  true,  the  maxim  of  Horace,  with  reference  to  the 
teacher  as  it  is  to  the  poet,  the  artist,  or  the  orator.  If  the  Divine 
gift  be  not  in  him,  you  cannot  by  any  amount  of  cultivation  evolve 
it  out  of  him,  or  by  any  process  of  impartation  put  it  in  him. 
This,  of  course,  does  not  by  itself  constitute  the  effective  teacher. 
It  may,  as  with  the  gift  of  natural  eloquence,  tempt  its  possessor 
to  neglect  requisite  cultivation ;  and  if  we  were  obliged  to  choose 
between  the  instruction  of  untrained  genius  and  that  of  carefully 
and  conscientiously  cultivated  average  talent,  we  should,  without 
hesitation,  take  the  latter.  The  question  just  now,  however,  is  not 
of  the  better  between  two  instruments,  both  of  them  defective,  but 
as  to  what  constitutes  the  best  instrument,  the  highest  element 
of  efficiency.  All  other  things  being  equal,  the  man  naturally  apt 
to  teach  is  the  man  for  his  work.  The  desirable  basis  of  all  train- 
ing and  preparation  for  this  work  is  this  natural  fitness  and  talent 
for  it.  This  may  not,  either  to  the  individual  himself  or  to  any 
one  else,  be  immediately  manifest.  It  may  require  the  appropriate 
stimuli  of  circumstances  to  call  it  forth  and  give  it  exercise.  It 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  369 

does  not  dispense  with  cultivation,  but  carefully  takes  it  on,  makes 
diligent  and  conscientious  use  of  it,  recognizes  its  importance,  its 
absolute  necessity.  Its  own  previous  existence,  however,  gives  to 
such  cultivation  its  highest  value.  Here  in  this  natural  aptitude 
and  capacity  we  have  the  proper  beginning.  When  we  have  this, 
we  may,  in  the  use  of  the  proper  means,  anticipate  a  successful 
continuation.  When  we  are  led  to  contemplate  the  past  career  of 
an  eminently  successful  man,  we  may  look,  and  we  shall  find  that 
this  was  one  of  his  qualifications. 

Need  I  remind  you  of  the  personal  illustration  of  this  portion  of 
our  subject?  Need  I  describe  to  those  who  so  well  have  known, 
that  rare  power  of  impartation,  that  aptness  not  only  to  teach  but 
to  quicken  thought  in  the  recipient,  to  set  men  to  thinking  and  in- 
vestigating, so  as  to  enable  them  to  reach  conclusions  really  their 
own,  and,  therefore,  of  permanent  value !  Whatever  may  be  said 
of  William  Sparrow  in  other  respects,  this  was  peculiarly  his  gift, 
pre-eminently  his  power.  It  was  not  merely  that  he  was  endowed 
by  nature  with  the  regal  prerogative  of  a  superb  intellect,  an  im- 
agination adequate  to  all  the  demands  of  that  intellect  for  illustra- 
tive and  embodying  power  to  vivify  its  conceptions  to  others,  an 
emotional  structure  promptly  and  thoroughly  responsive.  With 
all  this,  there  was  something  more,  the  power  of  living  communica- 
tion, of  stimulating  thought,  of  quickening  intellectual  activity. 
He  was  a  teacher!  Teaching  was  his  work.  It  was  natural  to 
him;  and  whenever  and  wherever  he  was  brought  in  converse  with 
his  fellow-men,  it  was  to  impart  to  them  information :  either  to  tell 
them  something  which  they  had  not  previously  known,  or  to  freshen 
their  impression  of  truths  already  familiar.  It  was  thus  in  the 
pulpit,  in  the  Faculty  meeting,  in  social  converse,  in  epistolary  cor- 
respondence. Many  of  his  pupils  have  received  almost  as  much 
from  his  letters  as  from  his  regular  instructions.  Teaching  with 
him  was  not  only  the  spontaneous  outgoing  of  his  personality,  but 
it  was  the  definitely  selected  work  to  which  his  highest  energies 
were  sacredly  consecrated,  and  with  which,  during  the  larger  por- 
tion of  his  career,  he  was  diligently  occupied.  In  his  eighteenth 
year,  he  began  life  as  an  instructor  of  youth,  with  a  considerable 
share  of  governing  the  Academy  in  which  he  was  employed;  and 
from  the  start  his  career  was  a  successful  one.  That  brief  and 
successful  essay  was  followed  by  a  course  of  additional  study,  and 
the  work  of  life  was  then  fairly  entered  upon :  first  as  tutor  at  Wor- 
24 


370  MEMOIR    OF 

thington,  at  Cincinnati,  and  Miami  University;  then  as  full  Pro- 
fessor at  the  last  of  these  institutions;  then  as  Senior  Literary  and 
Theological  Professor  at  Worthington  and  Gambier;  then  strictly 
Theological  at  the  latter  place;  and  finally,  in  the  same  capacity, 
for  nearly  one-third  of  a  century,  in  this  institution.  During  most 
of  the  time,  moreover,  of  his  professional  life,  both  literary  and 
theological,  the  government  of  the  institutions  with  which  he  was 
connected  was  placed  in  his  hands.  Confining  our  attention,  for 
the  present,  simply  to  his  power  as  a  teacher,  I  need  only  remind 
some  of  those  before  me  what  that  power  was ;  what  some  of  us,  in 
those  fresh  days  of  student  enthusiasm,  have  witnessed  of  its 
exhibitions.  Some,  doubtless,  came  under  those  instructions  incapa- 
ble of  appreciating  them.  Others,  again,  fearful  of  being  changed 
in  their  theological  and  ecclesiastical  views,  kept  themselves  in  such 
habitual  attitude  of  self-defence  and  non-receptivity  as  but  par- 
tially to  understand  them.  Others,  again,  wanting  in  moral  and 
spiritual  sympathy,  met  them,  so  far  as  understood,  with  positive 
aversion.  But  even  with  these  imperfectly  receptive  classes,  there 
was  always  the  impression  of  power,  of  transcendent  skill  in  the 
mode  of  handling  the  material  of  thought  and  information,  of  plac- 
ing it  before  the  minds  of  others,  and  quickening  their  activity, 
even  though  it  might  be  in  the  way  of  opposition.  While  to  an- 
other class,  the  pupil-minded,  the  real  learners,  'those  anxious  to 
know,  those  willing  to  test  and  try  everything  in  the  light  of  that 
Divine  truth  to  which  he  constantly  appealed,  his  quickening  influ- 
ence cannot  be  described.  It  was  recognized  and  felt  to  be  that  of 
a  master.  "I  had  just  graduated  at  Yale,"  is  the  language  of 
one  of  his  associates  in  Ohio,  describing  him  as  he  was  in  those 
first,  almost  youthful,  days  at  Worthington,  "and  I  knew  of  no  one 
there  whom  I  regarded  as  his  equal."  The  same  remark,  in  sub- 
stance, was  made  to  me  some  years  later  by  a  fellow-student,  a 
graduate  of  Pennsylvania  University.  And  I  have  since  heard  it 
from  another,  in  reference  to  a  still  different  institution.  Men  who 
had  graduated  upon  Butler  elsewhere,  came  to  him  and  found  out 
that  they  had  yet  to  learn  the  full  meaning  of  his  argument.  And 
as  in  Butler,  so  in  other  things.  Whether  in  Divinity,  in  Evi- 
dences, in  Mental  and  Moral  Science,  or  in  Language,  there  was 
the  same  peculiarity  of  power:  the  aptness  of  suggestion,  the  ease, 
and  freedom,  and  promptitude  of  movement,  the  fertility  of  re- 
source and  of  illustration,  the  distinctness  of  contemplation  as  to 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,   D.  D.  371 

facts  and  -principles  presented  or  illustrated,  the  clearness  of  out- 
line in  such  presentation.  These,  to  the  real  student,  constituted 
the  removal  of  his  worst  difficulties.  At  the  same  time,  they 
quickened  his  energies,  increased  his  information,  made  clear  and 
definite  his  previous  knowledge,  revealing  its  defects  and  opening 
the  way  for  their  removal.  In  the  recitation  room,  whatever  he 
was  elsewhere,  he  was  on  his  throne !  His  sovereignty  was  indis- 
putable, a  sovereignty  exercised  in  its  most  beneficial  form,  and  in 
such  exercise  full  of  delight  and  benefit  to  the  subject.  I  do  not 
know,  brethren,  how  it  was,  in  all  respects,  with  you  or  with  others, 
on  those  occasions,  and  as  sitting  in  the  seat  of  the  learner.  I  may, 
however,  judge  from  expressions,  at  different  times,  and  from  differ- 
ent sources,  that  your  experience  was  not  altogether  unlike  my 
own;  and  that,  by  comparison,  may  be  very  briefly  stated.  In 
looking  back  upon  my  experiences  of  intellectual  satisfaction  and 
enjoyment,  I  recognize  none  such,  in  kind  or  in  degree,  as  I  derived 
from  those  recitations,  unless  it  was  in  the  reception  of  the  same 
truths  and  illustrations,  in  a  more  practical  form,  from  the  pulpit, 
and  brought  to  bear  upon  the  heart  and  conscience.  Well  do  I  re- 
member a  walk  with  Albert  Duy  and  Owen  Thackara,  one  pleas- 
ant June  evening,  to  Alexandria,  during  our  middle  year,  when 
our  conversation  turned  upon  the  recitations  and  discussions  of  the 
few  days  preceding,  and  the  glowing  language  in  which  the  former 
described  his  enjoyment  of  them.  No  less  distinctly  do  I  remem- 
ber the  numberless  and  curious  questions,  on  such  occasions,  of 
another  classmate,  fresh  from  a  German  university,  full  of  dis- 
tinctions and  queries  as  to  entities  and  quiddities,  the  aut^a,  the 
(fo'/^i  and  the  nveufia,  but  never  finding  his  instructor  embarrassed, 
the  clearness  of  the  reply  often  lighting  up  the  obscurity  of  the 
question.  "  How  often,"  to  use  the  language  of  one  of  his  pupils 
of  later  years,  "how  often  have  we  seen  his  eyes  dilate,  and  his 
countenance  shine,  and  his  whole  mien  take  on  a  certain  majesty, 
as  the  very  oracle  of  truth,  as  he  sat  in  the  class-room  and  spoke 
to  us  of  the  things  of  God.  By  what  a  subtle,  irresistible  mag- 
netism have  we  sometimes  felt  ourselves  drawn,  while  listening  to 
his  fervent  words."  These  are  but  illustrations.  They  serve  to 
make  manifest  the  peculiar  gift  now  under  discussion,  its  place  and 
importance,  with  the  theological  as  with  the  scientific  or  the  literary 
teacher,  that  of  the  natural,  the  Divinely  conferred  capacity  of 
conveying  the  contents  of  our  own  minds  into  the  minds  of  others. 


372  MEMOIR    OF 

But  this  is  merely  the  beginning,  the  foundation ;  and  it  must 
be  carefully  and  diligently  built  upon.  This  capacity  of  commu- 
nication, this  power  of  conveyance  and  of  quickening  exerted  by  one 
mind  upon  another,  to  be  exerted  beneficially,  must  be  in  connection 
with  something  else,  material  to  be  communicated.  The  teacher 
must  himself  be  taught,  must  consent  to  be  a  learner,  and  this,  too, 
not  merely  as  introductory  to  the  beginning  of  his  work,  but  all 
along,  and  to  the  end  of  his  course.  If  he  ever  reaches  a  point  in 
which  he  stops  learning,  it  will  be  time  for  him  to  stop  teaching. 
The  freshness  which  comes,  and  comes  only  in  the  process  of  con- 
stant reception,  is  always  needed,  as  giving  vitality  and  interest  to 
that  of  impartation.  The  subject-matter,  of  course,  is  exhaustless. 
The  language  of  poetry  here  is  not  at  all  that  of  exaggeration : 

"  Were  man  to  live  coeval  with  the  sun, 
The  patriarch-pupil  would  be  learning  still, 
And  dying,  leave  his  lessons  half  unlearned." 

The  pupil  spirit  is  ever  the  proper  spirit  of  the  teacher,  which 
recognizes  how  much  is  still  to  be  known,  and  is,  therefore,  ever 
ready  with  the  confession  of  imperfect  knowledge.  Most  strik- 
ingly, and  in  each  of  these  respects,  was  the  spirit  exhibited  by  our 
departed  instructor.  While  ever  learning,  he  was  ever  ready  to 
confess  his  want  of  learning;  not  in  such  a  manner  as  to  extort  the 
compliment  from  others  that  such  was  the  case,  but  manifestly  as 
expressive  of  his  real  convictions,  an  entire  absence  of  all  preten- 
sion, of  everything  like  assumption  of  intellectual  superiority. 
More  than  once,  as  I  have  heard  him  speak  of  his  want  of  knowl- 
edge, or  of  his  imperfect  knowledge  upon  certain  subjects,  have  I 
been  reminded  of  Dr.  Johnson's  disclaimer  as  to  Greek  scholarship, 
and  the  explanation  of  an  intelligent  friend  as  to  how  far  this 
disclaimer,  a  thoroughly  honest  one,  gave  a  correct  view  of  the 
case:  "He  does  not  possess  that  mastery  of  it  which,  in  his  esti- 
mation, would  justify  him  in  claiming  to  be  a  Greek  scholar;  but 
he  knows  more  of  it  than  do  most  of  those  who  are  called  so.  Any 
one  else  who  had  his  knowledge  would  not  hesitate  to  claim 
the  title  which  he  declines."  But  whether  thus  intelligent  or  not 
in  certain  cognate  departments  of  knowledge — and  there  were  some 
in  which  he  distinctly  recognized  that  there  must  be  a  division  of 
abor — in  his  own  proper  sphere,  the  constant  process  went  on  of 
fresh  acquisition,  of  systematic  adjustment  of  every  such  new  acqui- 


WILLIAM    SPARED  W,    D.  D.  3T3 

sition,  in  its  relation  to  material  already  in  possession.  And  while 
upon  this  topic,  let  me  direct  attention  to  two  characteristics  in  his 
efforts  for  self-culture,  and  in  his  mode  of  intellectual  acquisition. 
One  of  these  was  the  thorough  mastery  of  the  subject  under  inves- 
tigation. During  the  latter  years  of  his  life  he  spoke  of  his  special 
obligations,  in  the  way  of  intellectual  training,  to  a  mathematical 
teacher  who  would  never  accept  a  hazy  or  halting  demonstration ; 
of  the  habit  of  study  acquired  under  this  strict  regimen.  "  Too 
many  students,"  was  another  of  his  remarks  which  some  of  us 
have  heard,  "  too  many  students  are  satisfied  merely  to  understand 
a  thing;  they  do  not  possess  it."  The  difference  thus  indicated, 
between  understanding  and  possessing,  may  be  said  to  have  con- 
stituted the  difference  between  his  mode  of  cultivation  and  that 
of  the  great  majority.  First  of  all,  by  thorough  discriminative 
analysis,  to  distinguish  and  separate  the  subject-matter  of  investi- 
gation from  all  others,  to  look  at  it,  and  to  know  it  in  all  its  various 
portions  and  particulars;  then,  by  the  process  of  synthetic  recon- 
struction, fully  to  possess  it,  to  know  it  as  a  whole,  each  part  in 
itself  and  in  relation  to  others,  and  all  in  its  relations  to  other 
things.  Whatever  the  direction  of  his  study,  this  seems  to  have 
been  his  effort  and  habit.  And  the  result  was  seen  in  the  thorough- 
ness and  definiteness  of  his  information.  What  he  undertook  to 
impart  he  was  careful  to  know.  Where  his  knowledge  was  not 
definite  and  satisfactory  he  refused  to  speak,  or  he  spoke  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  give  no  wrong  impression;  as  to  involve  no  preten- 
sions to  a  knowledge  of  which  he  was  not  in  actual  possession. 

The  other  of  these  characteristics  was  that  of  the  order  in  which 
these  acquisitions  were  made,  the  relation  in  this  process  of  self- 
culture  of  various  studies  to  each  other.  Just  as  we  shall  find, 
when  we  come  to  his  theological  course  in  the  task  of  imparting, 
that  there  was  a  natural  order,  the  various  parts  adapted  to  each 
other,  and  sustaining  each  other  as  they  were  severally  mastered, 
so  do  we  find  the  same  feature  in  the  course  of  acquisition.  Among 
these  departments  of  acquisition  was  one  which,  if  we  would  esti- 
mate his  peculiar  power,  must  never  be  forgotten,  his  metaphysical 
studies.  By  this,  too,  we  mean  not  merely  the  psychological  investi- 
gation of  the  various  powers  and  faculties  of  the  human  mind,  their 
laws  and  modes  of  operation,  intellectual,  emotional,  and  volitional, 
but  the  problems  with  which  they  come  in  contact,  the  great  prob- 
lems of  ontological  speculation,  of  existence,  of  God,  of  duty,  and  of 


374  MEMOIR    OF 

.- 

immortality,  over  which  the  human  mind,  with  imperfect  knowledge 
and  imperfect  capacity,  has  so  long  wrestled  in  the  dark,  but  which 
it  cannot  consent  to  leave  without  attempting  some  kind  of  solution. 
In  this  field  it  was,  so  barren  to  ordinary  cultivators,  so  empty  in 
ordinary  estimation,  that  he  gathered  some  of  his  richest  intellec- 
tual treasures,  that  he  made  one  of  his  most  important  acquisitions, 
for  the  special  work  of  teaching  theology  —  that  of  ascertaining 
how  far,  or  rather  how  short  a  distance,  the  human  mind  is  really 
able  to  go  in  certain  directions.  He  became  thus  able  himself 
to  say  to  others,  a  most  important  qualification  to  the  instructor, 
"  Thus  far,  and  no  further ! "  Here  is  knowledge,  science,  the 
material  of  their  construction!  There  is  speculation,  imagination, 
fancy,  nonsense!  If  Dr.  Sparrow  had  not  been  something 
greater  and  better,  he  would  have  been  a  great  metaphysician. 
As  it  was,  his  metaphysical  power  made  his  greatness  manifest  in 
other  respects.  If  not  among  the  first,  it  was  at  a  very  early 
period  that  his  cultivation  in  these  studies  began.  And  his  peculiar 
capacity,  as  also  his  mastery  of  material,  were  very  soon  recognized. 
"  He  was,"  says  Dr.  McElroy,  describing  him  at  Gambier,  in  his 
twenty-seventh  or  eighth  year,  "he  was  specially  able,  even  at  that 
early  age,  in  the  mental  and  moral  philosophies.  He  had  thoroughly 
mastered  every  able  book  on  those  subjects  that  had  at  that  time 
been  published;  and  my  impression  was,  that  he  was  fully  able  to 
write,  on  either,  a  better  book  than  any  on  the  subject  extant."  Nor 
can  this  portion  of  his  attainments  be  over-estimated  either  as  to  its 
influence  upon  his  general  training,  or  upon  his  efficiency  as  a 
teacher  of  divinity.  "  It  used  to  be  a  common  remark,"  says  the 
biographer  of  another  eminent  teacher  of  this  country,  Dr.  Archi- 
bald Alexander,  "it  used  to  be  a  common  remark,  in  the  days  of 
Church  controversy,  that  students  who  had  been  imbued  with  Dr. 
Alexander's  metaphysics  were  sure  to  swallow  his  entire  theological 
system."  "Perhaps,"  continues  the  biographer,  "perhaps  the 
same  is  true  of  every  theological  instructor  who  deduces  a  concate- 
nated system  from  any  clearly  defined  principles."  The  prevalent 
tendency,  just  now,  is  to  despise  and  underrate  this  class  of  studies; 
to  a  materialized  religion,  to  a  materialized  science.  There  is  a 
disposition  to  get  rid,  in  science  and  religion  alike,  of  everything 
which  does  not  come  under  the  cognizance  of  the  senses,  which 
cannot  be  referred  to  sensible  verification.  Even  where  this 
tendency  does  not  manifest  itself  in  the  grosser  forms  of  a  Panthe- 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,    D.  D.  375 

istic  science  or  a  materialized  religion,  it  sometimes  does  in  depreci- 
ative  statements  as  to  the  uselessness  of  intellectual  science,  of  philo- 
sophical investigation.  This,  too,  by  a  wonderful  inconsistency  in 
connection  with  statements  as  to  the  importance  of  intellectual 
cultivation.  Intellectual  cultivation!  The  cultivation  of  a  field, 
the  size  of  which  and  the  capacities  and  properties  of  the  soil  of 
which  you  are  profoundly  ignorant!  The  effective  and  skillful 
employment  of  a  tool  which  you  have  never  handled,  the  adapta- 
tions of  which  you  know  nothing!  He  who  would  instruct  other 
minds,  and  control  them  for  good,  must  first  know  something  of  his 
own,  of  the  facts  and  laws  common  to  all  minds;  must  carefully 
observe  his  own  intellectual  operations,  and  test  these  by  the 
experiences  of  others.  A  large  share  of  the  material  of  human 
knowledge,  as  also  the  capacity  of  using  it,  is  only  to  be  gotten  in 
this  way.  It  was  the  training  here,  in  metaphysics,  in  mental  and 
moral  science,  which,  so  far  as  mere  intellect  was  concerned,  pre- 
pared the  way  for  all  that  followed.  The  habits  thus  formed,  of 
discrimination  in  thought  and  expression,  were  carried  into  all 
other  studies,  those  of  language,  of  political  economy,  of  history, 
of  his  chosen  vocation  and  work,  theology.  In  all  the  departments 
of  this  latter  he  at  different  times  gave  instruction.  But  for  most 
of  his  time  in  Ohio,  and  for  the  whole  of  it,  saving  a  few  months, 
in  this  Institution,  it  was  in  the  chair  of  Systematic  Divinity  and 
Christian  Evidences,  including  in  the  latter  the  Analogy  of  Butler. 
His  mastery  of  this  last  work,  and  his  development  of  many  of  its  prin- 
ciples, have  already  been  alluded  to.  But  the  same  mastery  was 
seen  elsewhere,  the  same  result  exhibited  of  careful  and  thorough 
acquisition.  He  was  a  learner  to  the  last.  The  first  volumes  of 
Dr.  Hodge's  great  work  were  read  in  the  unbound  sheets  on  his 
journey  to  Europe.  Dorner's  work  on  the  Protestant  Reformation, 
almost  immediately  upon  its  appearance,  was  subjected  to  like 
examination.  And  I  have  little  doubt  that  on  that  last  Saturday 
morning,  before  his  ride  to  Alexandria,  and  while  many  of  us  were 
in  the  arms  of  sleep,  a  portion  of  the  Greek  text  of  the  New 
Testament,  with  the  latest  critical  aids  and  appliances,  received  his 
careful  and  devout  examination.  How  grateful  the  thought,  how 
precious  to  us  the  assurance,  of  that  blessed  transition,  so  near  at 
hand;  a  transition  which  was  a  translation,  when  all  human  aids, 
no  longer  needed,  would  be  forever  laid  aside.  That  which  had 


376  MEMOIR    OF 

been  seen  as  in  a  mirror,  obscurely  reflected,  being  now  perfectly 
seen  with  open  face,  in  the  very  presence  of  his  Lord ! 

And  here,  before  leaving  this  sphere,  the  almost  purely  intel- 
lectual, let  me  indicate  the  order,  not  only  of  his  acquisition,  but  of 
his  impartation,  the  relations  of  the  several  portions  of  his  course 
to  each  other.  The  stages  of  that  course  were  fourfold,  the  first 
opening  the  way  to  that  which  followed,  those  subsequent  depend- 
ent upon  this,  and  adding  to  it,  all  forming  one  complete  and  sys- 
tematic whole.  The  first  of  these  was  that  of  simple  fact,  the 
historic  facts  and  evidences  connected  with  the  coming  into  the 
world,  under  certain  circumstances,  of  the  Divine  Author  of  Christi- 
anity, the  origin  of  the  books  in  which  are  contained  the  truths  of 
the  Christian  system,  with  the  removal  of  difiiculties  and  the  replies 
to  objections.  The  second  was  that  of  the  general  philosophy  of 
this  revealed  system,  the  tracing  out  of  the  essential  resemblance 
between  this  supernatural  revelation  and  that  which  is  natural,  the 
analogy  of  nature  and  religion.  The  third  was  occupie'd  with  the 
particular  examination  of  the  contents  of  inspired  revelation,  the 
dictates  of  the  Divine  Word,  Biblical  Theology.  And  the  fourth, 
and  last,  had  reference  to  creeds  and  confessions,  Christian  doc- 
trines formulated  by  human  agency,  expressive  of  the  position  of 
the  whole  Church,  or  of  portions  of  it,  at  different  stages  of  its 
existence,  especially  those  of  our  own  Church,  and  all  these  in 
their  relation  to  the  Supreme  authority  of  Scripture.  Putting 
aside  the  two  former,  the  course  adopted  in  reference  to  the  others 
is  well  worthy  of  note;  may  for  a  few  moments,  be  considered. 
This  was  to  make  Scripture  not  only  supreme,  but  alone;  not  only 
ultimate,  but  all-suflicient.  Adopting  the  motto,  "  Bonus  textuarius 
est  bonus  theologus,"  he  was  willing  to  rest  everything  in  Christian 
theology  proper  upon  the  simple  teaching  of  the  inspired  Word. 
Upon  the  foundation  and  with  the  material  of  this  word  was  his 
structure ;  and  then,  by  the  results  of  that  word  he  tested  all  mere 
human  systems  and  confessions.  The  questions,  what  is  the  teach- 
ing of  the  early  Church,  of  the  Augsburg  Confession,  of  the  Council 
of  Trent,  of  the  Prayer-book  and  Thirty-nine  Articles  had,  indeed, 
their  proper  time  and  place  in  his  instruction.  But  they  were 
touched  only  incidentally  in  the  study  of  Divinity  proper.  It  was 
his  constant  effort  to  keep  before  the  minds  of  others,  and  to  act 
for  himself  upon  the  great  principle,  not  to  allow  any  of  these,  or 
anything  else  human,  to  be  a  measure  and  circumscribing  limit  in 


WILLIAM    S  PAH  ROW,   D.  D.  377 

the  process  of  theological  investigation.  He  refused  to  know  any- 
thing as  authority,  to  hear  of  anything  in  theology,  until,  in  a 
spirit  of  childlike  reliance  upon  its  Divine  Author,  he  had  patiently 
and  carefully  sought  His  own  revealed  meaning.  This,  as  most  of 
us  are  aware,  is  one  of  the  characteristics  of  the  text-book  in  that 
department,  introduced  by  Dr.  Keith,  but  adopted  by  his  successor ; 
and  in  this  its  main  principle  cordially  accepted.  Not,  of  course, 
slavishly  to  adopt  any  man's  textual  analysis  or  exegesis,  any  more 
than  his  theory  of  doctrine.  But,  still,  to  recognize  the  funda- 
mental principle  of  a  Scriptural  theology,  preceding  all  other  the- 
ologies, and  by  which  all  others  must  be  tested.  There  was,  as 
already  hinted,  a  later  part  of  his  course,  and  with  different  text- 
books, when  this  question  of  human  standards,  and  their  uses,  was 
distinctly  raised;  when  the  question  of  our  own  standards,  those  in 
England  and  of  our  own  country,  as  related  to  the  teaching  of  Scrip- 
ture, was  carefully  investigated.  Creeds  and  confessions,  in  his 
estimation,  had  their  place,  and  that  by  no  means  an  unimportant 
one.  He  had  no  sympathy  with  the  loose,  wild  talk  of  which  we 
now  hear  so  much,  that  dogma  is  the  source  of  all  the  evils  of 
Christendom.  The  men  who  babble  this  nonsense  have  their  dogma, 
which  they  are  all  the  time  preaching:  "That  nothing  particular 
ought  to  be  insisted  upon ! "  To  use  his  own  striking  illustration, 
"a  Church  without  a  creed  or  confession  is  like  a  ship  on  the  high 
seas  without  a  flag — an  ecclesiastical  pirate."  But  while  all  this, 
in  its  place,  was  thus  insisted  upon,  the  great  Protestant  principle, 
already  mentioned,  was  never  lost  sight  of,  was  firmly  grasped 
and  unshrinkingly  adhered  to ;  in  the  study  of  Scriptural  theology, 
Scripture  itself  and  alone  must  decide  all  issues.  The  striking 
thought  of  Coleridge,  in  reference  to  truth  in  general,  was  recog- 
nized as  specially  applicable  in  the  domain  of  theological  inquiry. 
He  who  begins  by  studying  the  word  of  God  by  the  measure  of 
this  or  that  human  standard,  will  soon  bring  it  into  accord  with 
that  standard ;  and  it  will  not  be  very  long  before  he  brings  that 
standard  and  the  word  of  God  alike  into  accord  with  himself,  to 
the  measure  of  his  own  individual  ideas  of  truth  and  duty.  It  is 
the  man  loving  his  Church  better  than  the  truth,  and  loving  him- 
self better  than  either.  There  is  a  constant  tendency  to  this,  even 
in  Protestant  communities,  or  rather  in  human  nature  itself.  But 
no  pupil  of  Dr.  Sparrow  ever  failed  to  receive  his  warning  against  it. 
But  these  intellectual  prerequisites,  however  important  to  the 


378  MEMOIR    OF 

theological  teacher,  must  be  connected  with  others  which  are 
needed  as  rendering  him  apt  and  fit  for  the  work  which  he 
has  undertaken.  When,  as  in  the  instance  before  us,  you  find 
the  peculiar  gift  for  the  peculiar  task,  the  teacher  born,  not  made 
for  his  office;  when,  moreover,  you  find,  superadded  upon  this,  care- 
ful and  systematic  cultivation;  when,  still  further,  you  have  a  love 
for  the  work,  a  pleasure  in  the  doing  it,  and  a  clear  perception  of 
what  is  to  be  done;  even  with  all  this,  you  need  something  more 
for  this  high  vocation.  Thus  far  we  have  seen  the  furnishment 
mainly,  if  not  entirely,  of  the  teacher's  head,  his  provision  for  the 
furnishment  of  the  heads  of  his  pupils.  That  which  gives  direction, 
and  steadiness,  and  elevation,  to  each  of  these,  alike  to  the  teacher 
and  the  taught,  i*  a  high  moral  purpose,  the  regulative  influence 
of  a  high  moral  principle  in  the  reception  and  in  the  dispensation 
of  knowledge,  whatever  its  character  or  applications.  If,  for  the 
attainment  of  the  highest  object  of  his  calling,  "the  orator  must 
be  a  good  man,"  much  more  must  the  teacher,  much  more  the 
teacher  of  theology.  There  must  be  in  him  that  upon  which  his 
pupils  can  rely,  which  they  will  profoundly  respect,  or  the  full  bene- 
fit of  his  instruction  cannot  be  enjoyed,  if,  indeed,  there  be  not 
positive  mischief  and  injury.  Illustrations  of  the  power  of  this 
moral  element,  and  the  weakness  incident  to  its  absence,  in  indi- 
vidual cases,  might  be  easily  adduced.  I  mention  only  a  few. 
Take,  for  instance,  the  celebrated  Hebraist,  the  benefit  of  whose  text 
books  we  have  some  of  us  enjoyed — but  for  whom  we  have  no  re- 
spect— as,  in  his  lecture-room,  with  frivolity  and  sneer,  he  under- 
mined, or  endeavored  to  undermine,  the  faith  to  which  his  position 
and  office  were  pledged,  and  by  which  he  got  his  bread.  Is  it  pos- 
sible for  such  a  man  properly  to  instruct  students  of  theology,  or, 
indeed,  students  of  any  kind?  Take,  again,  the  case  of  any  man 
who  fails  to  recognize  the  responsibilities  of  his  position;  who  does 
not  deal  with  truth  as  a  sacred  thing,  and  impress  it  with  the  same 
spirit  upon  those  who  come  under  his  influence;  who  indulges  in  a 
spirit  of  levity  or  indifference  in  reference  to  those  great  moral 
issues  which  are  constantly  presenting  themselves,  and  which  must 
have  a  decision ;  who  suggests  the  impression  that  these  are  mat- 
ters in  which  he  feels  but  little  or  a  subordinate  interest;  who  thus 
shows  that  he  himself,  morally,  is  a  bending  reed,  shivering  and 
shaking  in  every  passing  wind  of  incidental  circumstance,  and  you 
have  a  man  who  is  wanting  in  the  main  element  of  human  power  to 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,    I).  D.  379 

beneficial  purposes.  I  care  not  what  may  be  his  intellectual 
capacity,  his  stores  of  acquisition,  his  gifts  of  impartation.  He  is 
still  wanting  in  one  of  the  highest  qualifications  for  his  work. 
That  qualification  being  absent,  the  teacher  will,  as  to  the  highest 
culture  of  his  pupils,  prove  a  failure.  "He,"  says  Bishop  Berkeley, 
"  who  has  not  meditated  much  upon  God,  upon  the  human  soul, 
and  upon  man's  ultimate  good,  may  possibly  make  a  thriving  earth- 
worm; but  he  will  be  a  blundering  patriot,  and  a  sorry  states- 
man." The  statement,  with  a  change  in  terms,  is  quite  as  applicable 
to  the  office  of  which  we  are  speaking.  A  large  portion  of  its 
power  is  a  moral  one,  the  power  of  character,  of  thorough,  high- 
toned  integrity.  It  was  the  presence  of  this,  the  felt  presence  of 
this,  immediately  felt  and  constantly  recognized,  which  added  so 
much  to  the  qualities  already  described  in  the  subject  of  our  dis- 
cussion; its  distinct  and  abundant  manifestation,  which  gave  him 
such  hold  upon  his  pupils.  He  was  admired  and  respected  for  his 
intellectual  power.  He  was  revered  for  his  moral  power.  His 
appeal  to  men's  conscientious  convictions,  to  the  supremacy  of  con- 
science in  their  studies,  as  in  their  intercourse  with  each  other  and 
the  world  around  them,  came  with  the  power  of  his  own  example 
and  spirit  to  sustain  them.  Nothing  that  was  mean,  or  little,  or 
crooked,  or  sidewise,  could  live  in  his  presence;  was  instantly 
withered  and  consumed  in  the  glance  of  his  indignation.  Every- 
thing pure,  and  noble,  and  elevating,  dwelt  within  and  before  him, 
a  source  of  delight  wherever  and  whenever  exhibited.  Putting 
aside,  for  the  present,  the  high  motive  power  of  religious  principle, 
and  thinking  of  him  only  as  he  would  be  thought  of  by  those  who 
know  nothing  of  the  influence  of  such  principle,  these  two  unmis- 
takable features  of  character  were  ever  manifest:  moral  integrity 
in  all  things,  high  moral  elevation  in  thought  and  precept,  as  in 
personal  example.  In  these,  to  a  great  degree,  was  the  secret  of 
his  power,  that  power  which  he  so  pre-eminently  possessed,  not 
only  as  a  teacher,  but  as  an  administrator,  as  a  man!  His 
course  was  felt  by  himself,  and  seen  by  others,  to  be  a  thoroughly 
conscientious  one.  He  was  thus  enabled  to  go  forward  without 
faltering;  and  others  felt  that  they  ought  not,  dare  not,  refuse  to 
follow  him. 

And  as  there  was  this  influence  of  high  moral  integrity,  and 
this  clear  exhibition  of  pure  moral  principle  in  teaching  and  in 
life,  so  was  all  this,  in  turn,  quickened,  and  purified,  and  elevated 


380  MEMOIR    OF 

by  a  profoundly  religious  spirit,  by  the  constant  recognition  and 
application  of  the  great  principle  that  all  duty  and  obligation  must 
be  viewed  in  the  light  of  Divine  truth,  that  all  truth  and  all  duty 
must  have  reference  to  God.     It  was  a  morality,  as  a  theology, 
baptized  with  the  Holy  Ghost.     Christianity  to  him  was  a  great 
moral  and  spiritual  system  to  work  upon  the  minds  and  hearts 
of  men.     Its  various  institutions,  its  ministry,  its  sacraments,  its 
instructions,  were  recognized  of  value  only  as  they  attained  spirit- 
ual results.     They  were  but  as  scaffolding  for  the  building,  not 
something  for  which  that  building  was  erected.     "Religion,"  to 
use  almost  his  very  words,  "  religion  of  some  kind  or  other  men 
must  and  will  have.     There  is  no  trouble  nor  difficulty  about 
that.     The  trouble,  the  difficulty  is,  not  to  make  them  have  a 
religion,  or  to  make  them  religious,  but  to  make  them  have  the 
right  kind  of  religion;  to  make  them  religious  in  the  right  way;  to 
make  them  have  spiritual  religion."     This  was  the  one  word  which 
expressed  his  idea  of  the  essential  nature  of  Christianity;  as  to 
what  this  right  kind  of  religion  was ;  which  described  the  predomi- 
nant element  of  his  own  personal  religion,  as  it  made  itself  mani- 
fest to  others;  spirituality,  the  Gospel  dispensation,  a  dispensation 
of  the  spirit  of  Christ,  for  the  moral  and  spiritual  regeneration  of 
man's  whole  nature.     It  was  •  not,  to  his  view,  a  dispensation  of 
the  Incarnate  Christ  by  His  bodily  presence  in  the  sacramental 
emblems,  in  His  visibly  organized  Church,  or  in  His  outwardly 
consecrated  ministry.     It  was  one  of  the  risen  Christ,  in  the  per- 
fection of  His  divinity,  as  of  His  humanity,  by  His  Spirit,  the 
Comforter,  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  Lord  and  Giver  of  spiritual  life, 
making  use  of  these  various  outward  agencies  for  the  sanctification 
of  human  spirits,  for  their  transformation  into   Christ's   divine 
image,  for  their  fitting  and  preparation  for  the  service  of  Christ's 
heavenly  sanctuary.      If  there  was  any  one  truth  which,  more 
than  others,  may  be  said  to  have  shaped  his  thinking  and  teaching, 
it  was  this :  Christianity  a  spiritual  religion,  a  dispensation  of 
the  Spirit.     All,  in  some  form  or  other,  admit  this.     He  fully  be- 
lieved it,  realize^  it,  and  permanently  rested  in  it.     This  it  was 
which  gave  character  and  tone  to  his  theology,  which  shaped  his 
ecclesiastical  system,  which  gave  directness,  force,  and  symmetry  to 
his  personal  religion.     To  the  test  of  this  everything  else  was  sub- 
jected; as  it  stood  that  test,  was  it  cast  aside  as  worthless,  or  cor- 
dially accepted.     This  at  once  explains  his  position  to  many  of  the 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  381 

issues  of  the  last  half  century,  to  many  of  the  tendencies  now  pre- 
vailing. All  of  those  developments  of  materialized  Christianity,  of 
spiritualized  materialism  of  the  past  and  of  the  present,  which 
have  so  much  interfered  with,  and  are  so  much  interfering  with 
spiritual  religion,  in  the  Church  and  in  the  world,  were  thus  sum- 
marily and  indignantly  rejected.  Those  deeper  views,  as  they  are 
qlaimed  to  be,  of  the  sacraments,  circumscribing  and  localizing  the 
omnipresent  Spirit  in  the  waters  of  baptism,  the  ascended  Christ  in 
the  elements  of  the  Supper,  were  thus  recognized  as  anything  but 
deep ;  as  essentially  degrading  alike  to  the  sacraments,  their  admin- 
istrators, and  their  recipients.  Those  higher  views,  again,  as  they 
are  claimed  to  be,  of  the  Church  or  of  the  ministry,  which  make 
the  validity  of  their  action  and  their  very  existence  depend  upon 
the  outward,  the  visible,  and  the  tangible,  were  thus  seen  to  be 
low,  earthly,  groveling.  All  these  tendencies  of  unregenerate  or 
partially  regenerate  human  nature  to  get  rid  of  the  dispensation  of 
the  Spirit,  and  to  have  one  of  sense  and  of  sight  in  its  place,  to 
bring  back  the  visibilities  and  externalities  of  Judaism,  or  even 
worse,  the  fetich  elements  of  a  dead  and  putrescent  Paganism;  to 
all  this  he  set  himself  in  steady  opposition.  His  whole  teaching 
with  reference  to  such  matters  might  have  been  expressed  in  the 
language  of  the  Master:  "Take  these  things  hence."  Or  in  the 
reproachful  question  of  the  Apostle:  "Are  ye  so  foolish;  having  be- 
gun in  the  Spirit,  are  ye  made  perfect  in  the  flesh  ? "  Against 
everything  of  this  nature  he  set  his  face  as  a  flint.  It  was  an  issue 
of  essential  Christianity,  and  there  could  be  no  compromise.  The 
conflict  must  be  to  the  death.  For  other  differences  he  made  large 
allowance,  in  reference  to  other  issues  was  disposed  to  much  toler- 
ance. But  here,  the  faith,  its  very  kernel  and  life,  must  be  ear- 
nestly contended  for.  To  make  spirit  flesh,  and  flesh  spirit,  to  ma- 
terialize Christianity,  was  to  change  its  nature,  was  to  betray 
Christianity,  was  to  betray  Christ  Himself,  and  misrepresent  Him 
and  His  cause  before  the  world.  This  was  the  theology  of  the 
recitation-room.  It  was  the  burden  of  the  Thursday  evening 
exhortation.  And  it  rang  out  from  this  place  in  tones  clear  and 
distinct,  and  that  could  not  be  misunderstood :  Christianity  a  sys- 
tem of  spiritual  truth,  seeking  spiritual  results  depending  upon 
spiritual  instrumentalities ! 

And    this,   his  high    spirituality,  let   it    be   distinctly    noted, 
rested  upon  certain  well-defined  objective  truths,  out  of  those  truths 


382  MEMOIR    OP 

derived  its  power  and  vitality.  His  teaching,  and  thinking,  and 
living  were  distinctively  Evangelical.  He  cordially  accepted  the 
system  known  by  that  name,  and  as  represented  by  such  men  as  Leigh 
Richmond  and  Charles  Simeon,  in  England,  Alexander  Griswold 
and  William  Meade,  in  this  country.  Probably  the  first  decidedly 
theological  influence  brought  to  bear  upon  his  mind  was  that  of  a 
relative,  the  Rev.  Peter  Roe,  of  Ireland,  a  clergyman  of  this  school.- 
He  listened  to  the  same  truths,  drank  in  the  same  influences,  as  a 
lonely  student,  in  his  weekly  attendance  upon  the  lectures  of  Dr. 
Milnor.  The  principles  thus  brought  before  him  became  those  of 
his  life,  more  philosophically  arranged,  better  expressed  than  by 
some  with  whom  he  sympathized,  more  elaborated  than  by  others, 
more  carefully  guarded  in  certain  points,  especially  those  involving  the 
issues  of  Divine  agency  and  human  accountability,  but  still  essentially 
in  thorough  accord  with  the  system  thus  described,  and  the  leaders 
just  mentioned,  by  whom  it  was  represented.  He  candidly  accepted 
that  view  of  Christianity  which  humbles  man,  which  abases  the 
sinner  and  exalts  Christ;  which  finds  that  " Christ  is  all "  in  all 
the  spiritual  wants  of  men  as  lost  and  ruined  creatures;  which, 
therefore,  brings  every  imagination  and  every  capacity  in  captivity 
to  the  will  of  Christ,  in  humble  dependence  upon  His  grace,  in 
loving  obedience  to  His  will.  These  were  the  great  truths  in 
which  he  himself  lived,  and  moved,  and  had  his  spiritual  being, 
and  which,  therefore,  constituted  the  staple  of  his  instruction.  For, 
while  accepting  heartily  the  maxim  of  one  great  theologian,  already 
quoted,  that  thorough  scriptural  knowledge  is  the  basis  of  all  real 
theological  knowledge,  he  no  less  heartily,  as  a  moral  correlate, 
accepted  that  of  another,  that  such  knowledge,  to  be  of  any  value, 
must  be  examined  and  received  in  a  certain  state  of  the  heart.  It 
was  not  merely,  therefore,  natural  talent,  culture,  high  moral  tone, 
spirituality.  All  these  were  increased  as  to  their  value  by  Evangel- 
ical truth.  Some  of  them  found  their  value,  and  even  their  source, 
in  that  truth.  In  these  respects,  Dr.  Sparrow,  like  another  great 
thinker  and  preacher  of  this  century,  Robert  Hall,  was  a  remark- 
able exemplification  of  the  fact  that  this  Evangelical  system  is 
entirely  consistent  not  only  with  the  most  thorough  training  and 
culture,  but  with  the  highest  order  of  metaphysical  acumen,  of 
philosophical  intellect,  and  that,  in  these  as  in  other  classes,  it  was 
combined  with  high  spirituality.  These  two  things,  Evangelical 
truth  and  spirituality,  are  naturally  connected.  The  whole  history 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,  D.  D.  383 

of  the  Church  shows  that  the  amount  of  either  one,  in  any  age  or 
country,  constitutes  an  indication  of  the  presence  and  a  measure  of 
the  amount  of  the  other.  I  do  not  mean  by  this  to  say  that  there  . 
is  no  spirituality  outside  of  and  beyond  the  limits  of  the  Evangelical 
portion  of  our  Church,  or  those  of  the  same  views  in  other  churches. 
A  great  many  men  are  better  than  their  creed,  and  a  great  many 
are  not  as  good.  Professedly  Evangelical  men  are  sometimes  for- 
malists and  legalists,  narrow  in  themselves  and  harsh  in  their 
thoughts  and  judgments  of  others,  even  worse  than  this,  Antino- 
mians.  There  are  others,  again,  who  repudiate  this  name,  are 
ashamed  of  it,  or  who  positively  hate  and  revile  it;  but,  by  a 
blessed  inconsistency,  as  individuals,  are  in  the  cordial  reception  of 
Evangelical  truth  and  in  the  diligent  cultivation  of  Evangelical 
graces.  In  all  such  cases  we  would  rejoice  that  so  much  of  the 
substance  is  in  possession,  whatever  may  be  done  or  said  as  to  the 
name.  The  issue  now  is  not  between  individuals,  but  systems ; 
those  systems  intelligently  accepted  and  consistently  worked ;  indi- 
viduals only  to  be  thought  of  as  they  consistently  represent  those 
systems.  We  cannot  venture  to  say  of  any  individual  who  is  identi- 
fying himself  with  the  materialistic  or  legalistic  movements  of  our  day, 
with  the  Sacramental  or  Sacerdotal  systems,  now  so  industriously  ad- 
vocated, we  cannot  venture  to  say  of  any  such  individual  that  he  is 
not  one  of  Christ's  people.  But  this  we  must  and  ought  to  say,  that 
the  system  which  he  is  working  and  the  doctrine  which  he  is  advo- 
cating is  not  Christianity,  is  not  that  of  the  Gospel  of  salvation.  It 
does  behoove  us  at  this  time,  those  who  are  set  for  the  defence  of 
the  truth,  especially,  in  view  of  the  tremendous  odds  against  it,  an 
ecclesiastical  atmosphere  reeking  with  the  contagion  of  its  opposite, 
it  is  incumbent  upon  us  to  be  open  and  square  as  to  this  our  posi- 
tion ;  meekly  and  lovingly,  but  firmly  and  decidedly,  retaining  not 
only  the  thing,  but  the  name  by  which  that  thing  is  known  among 
men.  Names  are  often  things,  and  he  who  wishes  to  get  rid  of  the 
name  by  which  certain  principles  have  been  described,  and  recog- 
nized, and  known,  is  in  a  fair  way  to  get  rid  of  the  principles 
themselves.  There  is  an  Evangelical  system,  that  of  the  leading 
Eeformers  in  England  and  on  the  Continent;  that  of  the  first  two 
or  three  generations  of  theological  leaders  in  the  English  Church ; 
that  of  Venn,  and  Eichmond,  and  Wilberforce;  that  of  Meade,  and 
Milnor,  and  Mcllvaine.  And  there  is  another  system :  you  may 
call  it  the  Church  system,  or  the  Legal  system,  or  the  Sacramental 


384  MEMOIR    OP 

system,  -or  the  Tractarian  system,  or  the  Ritualistic  system,  just  as 
it  modifies  itself  at  different  times  to  these  distinct  forms  of  mani- 
festation. But  in  all  these  modifications  it  has  one  unifying 
principle:  it  ever  fronts  and  opposes  the  Evangelical.  Between 
them  there  can  be  no  real  cordiality.  It  is,  to  use  the  striking 
thought  of  another,  the  wrestle  of  Luther  and  Cyprian  in  the  womb 
of  the  same  ecclesiastical  mother.  Eventually  one  must  overcome 
and  cast  out  the  other;  not,  necessarily,  by  force,  by  ecclesiastical 
legislation,  or  by  outward  machinery  of  any  kind,  but  by  argument 
and  by  truth.  I  have  no  doubt  as  to  where  the  argument  and 
truth  are,  and  therefore  none  as  to  the  final  result.  We  may 
properly  fear  for  individuals,  and  even  for  generations.  Certainly, 
there  are  just  grounds  of  fear  for  many  of  the  men  of  this  genera- 
tion. But  there  need  be  no  such  fear  whatever  as  to  the  final 
triumph  of  Evangelical  truth.  In  the  meantime,  however,  and 
while  the  struggle  is  going  on  and  the  great  issue  pending,  it 
behooves  us  to  stand  in  our  lot,  to  recognize  our  position,  and  to  do 
what  we  may  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  great  result.  And 
here,  in  the  example  of  our  departed  preceptor  and  leader,  we 
have  an  indication  as  to  our  proper  duty.  It  was  ever  his  wish  to 
be  understood  as  identified  with  these  Evangelical  principles,  as  an 
upholder  of  the  Evangelical  system.  While  it  was  his  effort  to 
impress  upon  those  under  his  tuition  the  responsibility  for  them- 
selves to  "prove  all  things,"  to  "hold  only  that  which  was  true 
and"  good,  there  could  be  no  doubt  what  he  regarded  as  good, 
what  he  had  proved,  to  his  own  satisfaction,  to  be  true.  His  main 
interest  in  this  Institution,  which  he  served  so  long  and  which  he 
loved  so  well,  was  as  it  was  identified  with  the  principles  of  its  .origi- 
nal founders.  It  was  his  effort  to  keep  it  and  to  leave  it  in  these 
respects  as  he  found  it,  a  place  in  which  men  might  learn  Evangeli- 
cal truth  and  be  brought  under  its  responsibilities,  whatever  use  or 
perversion  they  might  make  of  it  afterward.  "Our  flag,"  said  he, 
some  eight  years  agor  while  the  Institution  was  struggling  with  the 
difficulties  of  its  fresh  start,  after  the  calamities  through  which  it  had 
been  passing,  and  in  speaking  of  its  anticipated  future  work,  "  our 
flag  of  Evangelical  principles  is  nailed  to  the  mast ;  and  if  it  goes 
down,  we  had  better  go  down  with  it."  How  grateful  the  thought 
that  those  efforts  were  successful ;  that  he  was  permitted  to  survive 
and  to  witness  so  much  of  that  success;  that  he  was  able  to  wel- 
come on  our  Semi-Centennial  so  many  of  his  old  friends  and  pupils, 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  385 

and  to  rejoice  with  them  in  the  assurance  that  his  labors  had  not 
been  in  vain.  It  was  this,  coupled  with  the  additional  assurance 
that  the  Institution  was  to  go  on  more  vigorously  than  ever  in 
its  old  work,  resting  upon  its  old  foundations  and  witnessing  for 
the  same  old  precious  truths,  which  constituted  the  special  grounds 
of  his  rejoicing.  For  this  he  had  labored.  In  these  assurances  he 
was  already  receiving  the  fruit  of  his  labors. 

And  as  there  was  this  hope  and  assurance  to  him,  so  does  it  con- 
tain an  important  practical  suggestion  to  us:  our  duty  and  work 
for  this  Institution,  with  which  he  was  so  closely  identified  and 
which  so  long  enjoyed  the  benefit  of  his  labors.  Is  it  not  our  part 
to  actualize  his  anticipations,  to  see  that  his  hopes  receive  fulfill- 
ment? And  when  I  say  "our,"  I  do  not  mean  those  only  who  are 
engaged  in  the  work  of  instruction,  or  in  that  of  control  and  ad- 
ministration. They  act  efficiently  and  successfully  only  as  sus- 
tained and  encouraged  by  others.  Our  Alumni,  those  here  present 
with  us,  those  elsewhere,  who  are  interested  in  our  work,  those  of 
our  members  who  are  just  leaving  us,  those  who  expect  for  a  brief 
period  to  return,  all  these  have  their  work  for  its  advancement  and 
welfare.  In  these,  our  respective  positions,  we  are  now  especially 
reminded  of  our  duty  to  fill  up,  so  far  as  we  can,  the  gap  that  has 
been  made,  to  supply  the  place  of  what  has  been  taken  away.  In- 
dividuals die,  but  principles,  and  institutions  representing  princi- 
ples, live.  When  an  individual,  identified  with  such  an  institution 
and  its  principles,  who  has  occupied  a  large  sphere  of  effort  and  of 
usefulness,  is  taken  from  it  by  death,  or  otherwise,  the  providential 
call  to  those  who  remain  is  not  to  despond,  but  to  be  up  and  doing 
more  actively,  to  be  more  determined  and  more  abundant  than 
ever  in  their  labors  and  exertions.  The  dying  words  of  one  of 
our  Alumni,  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  in  regard  to  the  work  to 
which  he  had  given  his  life,  are  expressive  of  what  ought  to  be 
our  feelings  under  our  present  circumstances:  "Let  the  Mission," 
our  work,  "go  forward;  let  it  go  forward  more  than  ever."  Such, 
I  am  persuaded,  would  be  the  exhortation  of  our  departed  teacher, 
if  he  could  now  appear  in  our  midst.  Such  is  the  providential 
appeal  and  charge  to  us  under  the  circumstances  of  the  present 
moment.  Let  our  Seminary  go  forward.  Let  it  go  forward,  not 
for  its  own  sake,  but  for  its  work's  sake,  and  for  the  Master's 
sake ;  let  it  go  forward  more  than  ever.  If  we  would  effectively 
respond  to  this  appeal,  we  must  remember  that  it  can  be  done 
25 


386  MEMOIR    OP 

only  through  definite  and  earnest  exertion.  We  want,  brethren, 
a  great  many  things.  But  I  put  aside,  for  the  present,  men- 
tion of  all  but  three,  that  are  almost  indispensable,  that  ought  to 
be  distinctly  placed  before  us,  as  claiming  our  exertions.  We 
want,  first,  the  material  of  men,  to  be  ready  to  take  hold  of  and  to 
carry  on  the  work  of  the  Institution  when  those  now  engaged  in 
it  follow  their  departed  colleague,  are  laid  aside,  or  in  their  graves. 
Our  younger  clergy,  especially,  ought  to  see  to  this,  that  they  are 
fully  abreast  of  the  culture  of  our  age,  so  that,  if  necessary,  they 
can  fill  the  teacher's  place.  We  want,  again,  the  material,  in  the 
way  of  full  endowment,  to  work  the  Institution  comfortably,  ef- 
ficiently, thoroughly,  and  without  embarrassment.  And,  last  of 
all,  and  most  important  of  all,  we  need  material  for  our  classes, 
•that  there  should  be  a  full  supply  of  men,  and  of  the  right  kind 
of  men,  to  be  enjoying  the  benefit  of  such  provision.  In  this  last 
item  there  is  great  deficiency,  deficiency  which  involves  great  cul- 
pability. There  are  congregations  in  this  Diocese,  and  elsewhere, 
large  congregations,  which  have  been  going  on  for  years,  which 
have  used  up  and  worn  out  two  or  three  generations  of  ministerial 
laborers,  and  yet  have  not  themselves  sent  a  single  laborer  into  the 
field.  This  ought  not  so  to  be.  It  would  not  if  there  were  distinct, 
specific,  and  earnest  pastoral  effort  and  prayer,  not  only  to  save 
souls,  but  to  find,  and  call  out,  and  develop  men  who  will  conse- 
crate themselves  to  the  same  great  undertaking.  I  would  leave 
these  three  points,  especially  the  last,  for  your  reflection,  and  as 
suggesting  some  of  the  modes  in  which  you  may  aid  our  Institution ; 
in  which  you  may  take  up  and  carry  on  the  work  to  which  the  life 
and  energies  of  our  departed  teacher  were  so  long  and  faithfully 
devoted. 

I  have  thus  endeavored,  very  imperfectly,  to  recall  some  of  those 
features  which  we  delighted  to  contemplate;  amid  the  associa- 
tions of  this  hour,  to  dwell  for  a  little  time  longer,  mournfully, 
reverently,  and  lovingly,  upon  those  traits  of  character,  intellect- 
ual, moral,  and  spiritual,  which,  through  the  force  of  example, 
have  impressed  themselves  upon  so  many  others,  have  so  greatly 
shaped  and  moulded  the  character  and  ministerial  work  of  so  many, 
during  the  last  half  century.  Let  us  remember  that  these  traits, 
while  those  of  the  successful  theological  teacher,  are  also  those  of 
the  teacher  everywhere:  in  the  pulpit,  in  the  Bible-class,  in  the 
sphere  of  pastoral  life,  in  the  intercourse  of  ministerial  contact 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D. 

with  our  fellow-men.  There  are  not  many  men  who  possess  the  com- 
bination of  rare  qualities  with  which  he  was  endowed.  Few,  indeed, 
possess  any  one  of  those  qualities  in  the  same  degree.  But  to  some 
degree,  all  have  most  of  them.  They  can  all  be  cultivated,  and, 
in  our  work,  they  all  have  their  proper  place.  We  honor  him 
most  highly,  so  far  as  in  these  traits  we  closely  imitate  his  example ; 
his  diligent,  and  careful,  and  thorough  cultivation,  his  high  moral 
tone,  his  deep  and  all-pervading  spirituality,  his  thorough  appreci- 
ation, and  love,  and  zeal  for  the  essential  truths  of  the  Gospel. 
All  these  constitute  elements  of  power  in  the  ministerial  work,  ele- 
ments which  may  well  become  to  us  objects  of  earnest  attainment. 
"Not  slothful  in  business,  fervent  in  spirit,  serving  the  Lord.'* 
That  was  his  last  message,  the  last  pouring  out  of  that  heart  and 
intellect  for  our  benefit  and  welfare,  as  for  the  honor  of  the  Master. 
Let  us  take  that  precept  as  illustrated  in  his  personal  example; 
follow  him,  as  he  would  have  had  us  do,  only  "as  he  followed 
Christ." 


388  MEMOIR    OP 


REMINISCENCES  OF  DR.  SPARROW. 


BY  EEV.  E.  W.  SYLE. 


"YEDO,  JAPAN,  July  13,  1875. 
"  REV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER  : — 

"  From  your  own  experience  you  can  understand  that  the  time 
of  entering  on  a  new  professorship  is  not  one  of  literary  leisure; 
and  you  may  imagine  that  in  adapting  one's  lecture  to  the  mental 
status  of  a  class  of  young  Japanese  students,  on  such  subjects  as 
History  and  Moral  Philosophy,  I  have  had,  if  not  a  difficult,  yet  an 
absorbing  task,  during  the  past  few  months. 

"  Now,  however,  the  examinations  are  over,  and  after  one  day  of 
mental  relaxation  I  set  myself  to  use  my  leisure  in  complying  with 
your  request  for  some  reminiscences  of  Dr.  Sparrow. 

"  I  have  already  sent  you  a  few  pages,  and  have  referred  you  to 
my  son  for  letters,  which  he  was  authorized  to  put  at  your  service, 
so  that  you  might  have  the  material  for  that  'unconscious  auto- 
biography '  which  is  to  be  found  in  the  correspondence  of  one  who 
writes,  as  Dr.  Sparrow  did,  fully,  and  earnestly,  and  ingenuously. 
Indeed,  it  was  this  gift,  or  habit  (with  him  it  was  both),  of 
conscientious  letter- writing,  as  a  part  of  his  ministry,  which  I  should 
fix  upon  as  one  of  the  most  marked  and  valuable  of  his  character- 
istics. I  never  knew  of  his  writing  a  foolish  letter,  although  he 
sometimes,  not  often,  however,  indulged  in  pleasantry ;  while  he 
was  far  from  despising  wit,  or  regarding  it  as  wickedness.  He 
was,  however,  conscientious  about  it;  and  I  remember  one  occasion, 
when,  in  a  company  of  friends,  I  had  myself  said  something  which 
failed  to  be  as  pleasant  as  was  intended,  and  as  pleasantries  should 
be,  to  deserve  the  name,  he  volunteered  the  remark  afterward, 
when  we  were  alone :  '  I  know  nothing  more  difficult  or  delicate 
than  the  right  use  of  wit,  a  sanctified  wit.  It  is  a  talent,  but  a 
very  rare  one.' 

"Let  me  return,  however,  to  his  letters,  of  which  I  have  a  few 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  389 

with  me,  the  last  of  a  long  series,  extending  from  1840,  when  I 
left  Ohio,  after  having  been  under  his  instruction  for  five  years  at 
Gambier  (part  of  that  time  acting  as  private  tutor  in  his  family), 
down  to  the  date  of  October,  1873,  when  he  wrote  the  most  touching 
of  all,  some  short  time  after  Mrs.  Sparrow's  death. 

"  I  find  it  difficult  to  make  extracts  without  bringing  myself  more 
prominently  into  notice  than  I  could  wish ;  but  as  you  particularly 
request  me  to  send  you  'personal'  traits,  I  can  only  do  so  by  giving 
what  he  wrote  and  did,  as  I  personally  was  connected  with  him. 

"  The  first  extract  is  from  a  letter  dated  January  3,  1868,  and 
refers  to  a  claim  I  had  against  a  certain  parish  for  balance  of  salary. 

" '  I  had  declined,  not  very  long  ago,  to  act  as  a  referee  at  the 
request  of  a  clerical  brother ;  and  yet  I  would  have  made  your 
case  an  exception  to  my  rule,  if  I  felt  myself  competent  to  such 
duty,  or  standing  in  a  state  of  indifference  to  both  the  parties. 
But  that  is  not  the  case,  and  therefore  I  have  been  compelled  to 
decline.' 

"  This  calls  to  mind  his  characteristic  delicacy  and  sensitiveness 
as  to  money-matters.  His  mind  recoiled  from  rough  contact,  of  any 
kind,  with  others,  and  especially  from  an  assertion  of  his  own  rights. 
I  feel  sure  he  never  could  have  written  such  a  passage  as  2  Cor. 
xi,  12 ;  he  would  have  shrunk  from  saying  so  much  about  himself. 

"  For  this  reason  he  was  apt  to  be  a  disappointing — I  might  as 
well  say  it,  for  I  am  sure  he  would  have  said  it  himself — a  disap- 
pointing and  an  ineffective  member  of  conventions,  boards,  etc.,  in 
cases  where  it  might  be  necessary  '  earnestly  to  contend '  for  some 
plan  or  principle;  so  that  even  a  good  cause  in  his  hands  was  apt 
to  suffer,  because  he  hated  anything  like  strife  among  brethren. 

"The  idea  of  soliciting  any  position  of  honor  or  emolument  was 
entirely  at  variance  with  his  feelings  and  principles,  however  much 
he  might  know  that  he  deserved  the  honor  and  needed  the  emolu- 
ment. 

"After  a  suggestion  that  he  might  very  properly  do  something  of 
this  kind  in  regard  to  the  presidency  of  Kenyon  College,  then  va- 
cant, his  answer  was,  'No,  sir,  no;  I  could  never  do  so.'  And 
then,  after  a  pause,  '  I  might  do  it  for  my  children's  sake,  but  never 
for  my  own.' 

"  In  speaking  of  that  Institution,  he  once  said :  '  I  have  stood  by 
it  through  all  its  struggles,  from  the  time  it  was  commenced  at 
Worthington  till  now,  when  Bexley  Hall  is  being  built.  In  this 


390  MEMOIR    OF 

place  my  best  years  of  labor  have  been  spent,  and  here  my  children 
have  been  born.  Mr.  Syle,  /  love  the  very  stones  upon  the  road  ! ' 

"Just  at  that  juncture,  when  he  had  determined  to  leave  Kenyon, 
the  rectorship  of  St.  Andrew's,  Pittsburg,  was  pressed  upon  him, 
and  he  was  well  minded  to  accept  it;  but  he  doubted  his  ability  to  do 
pastoral  work  with  satisfaction  to  himself;  and  he  dreaded  the  task 
of  clearing  off  a  $10,000  debt  which  was  then  weighing  on  the  con- 
gregation. 

"  In  the  wear  and  tear  of  the  struggling  work  of  the  first  days 
of  the  College,  none  took  a  heavier  share  than  Dr.  Sparrow.  He 
and  Professor  Wing  were  the  veterans  of  those  early  battles  which 
were  fought  against  obloquy,  poverty,  and,  as  the  trustees  were 
apt  to  think,  Episcopal  encroachment. 

"  Many  were  the  contests  on  this  latter  point,  in  Bishop  Chase's 
time,  and  Dr.  Sparrow  was,  in  most  cases,  I  believe,  the  spokesman 
of  the  trustees,  though  greatly  against  his  wishes.  It  is  thor- 
oughly characteristic  of  him  that,  on  one  occasion,  he  wrote  a  very 
powerful  pamphlet,  and  had  it  printed;  and  then,  having  relieved 
his  mind  by  this  advocacy  of  what  he  felt  to  be  right  and  true,  his 
aversion  to  strife  returned,  like  a  tide,  and  his  heart  failed  him  as 
soon  as  a  few  copies  were  put  in  circulation.  The  greater  part 
were,  as  he  told  me  himself,  bundled  up  and  stowed  away  in  the 
garret  of  his  house  at  Gambier ;  to  be  brought  out,  I  doubt  not,  at 
the  time,  of  his  removal,  to  be  treated  as  waste  paper. 

"  He  had  always,  as  you  know,  an  extreme  jealousy  of  the  unde- 
fined prerogatives  of  the  Episcopal  office,  maintaining  that  these 
were  limited  strictly  by  the  written  laws  of  the  Church;  and  his 
view  of  the  '  Divine  Bight '  was,  that  it  stood  in  the  category  of 
all  governments,  as  such;  not  exclusive,  as  to  any  one  form,  but 
binding,  like  the  injunction,  'Honor  the  king,'  as  an  obedience 
due  on  the  part  of  Christians  to  the  '  powers  that  be/  general,  not 
restricted  in  its  application. 

"I  cannot  say  that  his  arguments  of  this  subject  were  satisfactory 
to  my  own  mind;  my  feeling  was  that  they  fell  short  of  the  mark; 
but  in  those  college  days  I  had  not  been  led  to  study  the  matter 
very  fully,  and  I  do  not  think  I  am  competent  to  state  fairly  what 
he  really  held,  or  even  what  he  declined  to  hold,  though  I  am  sure 
he  demurred,  after  the  manner  of  Archbishop  Whately,  to  ex- 
treme High-Church  claims,  and  had  a  most  hearty  contempt  for 
the  man-millinery  of  Ritualism,  while  he  relished  greatly  Sidney 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.   D.  391 

Smith's  description  of  the  Oxford  movement,  as  consisting  of  '  Pos- 
ture and  Imposture;'  as  also  that  epithet  of  'The  Times,' which 
stigmatized  the  whole  system  as  'Pernicious  Nonsense.' 

"Before  leaving  Gambier  and  its  associations,  I  must  mention 
one  or  two  of  Dr.  Sparrow's  characteristic  engagements  there.  I 
call  them  characteristic,  because,  though  they  were  things  which 
other  men  might  do,  yet  his  way  of  doing  them  had  an  air  of  fresh- 
ness, and  a  flavor  of  originality  about  it  which  makes  the  memory 
of  them  as  distinct  as  the  experience  of  them  was  enjoyable. 

"For  instance:  When  giving  us  undergraduates,  as  his  custom 
was,  a  Bible  Lecture,  on  Thursday  evenings,  on  one  occasion  he 
dwelt  upon  what  he  called  the '  invaluable  tenth  chapter  of  Genesis/ 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  make  us  feel  that  wonderful  collection  of 
unaccustomed  names  was  one  of  the  most  interesting  passages  of 
history  that  had  ever  been  written ;  and  when  he  dwelt  on  the  ex- 
pression 'before  the  Lord,'  as  added  to  the  designation  of  'Nimrod, 
the  mighty  hunter,'  we  were  made  to  feel  that  it  was  the  searching 
something  of  God's  sight  which  made  things  to  appear  what  they 
really  are.  What  power  of  vivid  portraiture  he  had  will  be  well 
known  to  all  who  attended  the  'Faculty'  prayer-meetings  at 
Alexandria. 

"At  Kenyon,  toward  the  end  of  his  residence,  he  introduced  the 
custom  of  holding  a  recitation  in  the  Greek  New  Testament,  on 
Monday  mornings,  for  the  Junior  and  Senior  classes.  These  were 
remarkably  instructive  and  impressive.  I  shall  never  forget  the 
amount  of  emotion  he  evoked  when  dwelling  on  Acts  v,  41,  and 
showing,  first,  what  a  powerful  feeling  shame  was,  and  then,  how 
great  must  have  been  the  grace  which  enabled  the  Apostles  not 
only  to  bear  the  shame,  but  to  rejoice  in  it ! 

"A  connecting  link  in  my  mind,  between  his  work  at  Gambier 
and  at  Alexandria,  was  his  exceptional  kindness  in  permitting  me 
to  make  a  copy  of  his  manuscripts :  Questions  and  Notes  on  But- 
ler's Analogy,  Christian  Evidences,  and  Systematic  Divinity.  This 
favor  was  accorded  to  me  on  the  ground  that  I  was  going  abroad 
as  a  Missionary,  and  it  might  be  especially  helpful  to  me  in  my 
far-off  field  of  labor,  removed  from  all  libraries  and  from  inter- 
course with  studious  and  scholarly  minds.  And  greatly  helpful 
have  I  found  them ;  for  on  missionary  ground  we  find  the  heresies 
of  old  springing  up  almost  in  their  original  order,  Arianism  first, 
and  Sabellianism  not  long  after;  Corinthian  confusion  and  ascetic 


MEMOIR    OF 

self-righteousness  filling  up  the  intervals  of  serious  doctrinal  de- 
partures. 

"As  to  the  Questions  themselves,  the  very  process  of  copying 
them  (which  occupied  me  about  two  months,  the  whole  of  a  long 
vacation),  brought  its  own  benediction;  for  they  were  so  suggestive, 
and  the  notes  and  extracts  appended  to  them  were  so  full  of  the 
choicest  matter,  that  I  doubt  if  any  other  method  of  dwelling  on 
the  several  topics  which  passed  under  review  could  have  been  more 
advantageous  to  a  student.  It  made  me  understand  that  in  the 
days  when  books  were  fewer,  and  copying  more  common,  thorough- 
ness in  scholarship  might  be  looked  for  rather  than  in  these  times 
when  the  book-trade  has  so  much  to  do  with  common-school  educa- 
tion. At  all  events,  this  experience  of  mine  has  had  its  effect  in 
moulding  the  method  I  pursue  in  carrying  my  students  at  the  Im- 
perial College  through  the  lessons  of  Moral  Philosophy  which  I 
myself  learned  under  Dr.  Sparrow.  Our  text-book  at  Gambier 
was  Wayland,  and  we  found  it  satisfactory,  as  amplified  by  our 
admired  Professor. 

"  The  Questions  above  referred  to  were  re-cast  at  about  the  time 
when  he  removed  to  Alexandria ;  reduced  in  amount,  and  expressed 
with  more  terseness — perhaps  with  more  accuracy;  but  not,  as  I 
thought,  improved  upon  the  whole;  especially  as  he  omitted  many 
of  the  extracts  and  references  to  current  literature,  as  well  as  to 
unusual  authorities,  which  are  so  invaluable  to  a  young  student, 
who  has  not  yet  learned  where  to  find  what  he  wants. 

"And  now  farewell  to  Gambier,  a  place  where  there  was  a 
strange  blending  of  the  old  and  new ;  of  refined  ideas  and  primi- 
tive manners;  of  literary  life  and  country  customs.  Some  of  the 
contrasts  and  transitions  were  bordering  on  the  ludicrous;  and  of 
this  there  was  no  lack  of  appreciation  on  the  part  of  our  good  Doc- 
tor. Those  very  preaching  excursions,  to  which  I  have  referred 
as  so  full  of  impressiveness  and  profit,  were  sometimes  preceded 
by  endeavors  to  borrow  a  horse  for  the  occasion,  which  were  any- 
thing but  propitious  and  promotive  of  'a  quiet  mind.'  Hiding  up 
to  his  house  one  day,  for  the  purpose  of  escorting  him  out  into  the 
wilderness — for  such  it  was — his  description  of  what  he  had  just 
gone  through  was  of  the  most  graphic  kind,  concluding  with, 
'  You  see,  Mr.  Syle,  that  when  one  has  borrowed  a  horse  from  one 
neighbor,  and  a  saddle  from  another,  and  then  goes  out,  bridle  in 
hand,  to  catch  the  "critter,"  who  dodges  about  in  every  fence-cor- 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  393 

ner  in  the  field;  then,  when  you  have  led  him  up  to  the  door  and 
saddled  him,  you  have  had  about  enough  of  the  ride ! '  Most  cer- 
tainly, in  his  case;  for  his  feeble,  attenuated  physique  was  an  un- 
ceasing source  of  distress  to  him,  and  his  constant  tendency  to 
headache  a  veritable  thorn  in  the  flesh ;  though  he  was  accustomed 
to  work  on,  and  work  through  all  such  ailments,  very  seldom  giving 
up  except  from  sheer  exhaustion  and  actual  inability.  Once,  I 
remember,  myself,  bringing  him — unintentionally,  of  course — to 
the  breaking-down  point,  by  making  him  a  visit  to  inquire  what 
his  views  were  as  to  how  far  a  man  might  differ  from  the  Articles, 
to  which  he  made  a  general  subscription.  His  answer  I  well  re- 
member, perhaps  all  the  better  for  its  having  been  given  at  the 
moment  of  exhaustion :  '  As  far,'  he  said,  '  as  his  own  conscience 
will  permit,  and  the  existing  authorities  of  the  Church,  duly  in- 
formed, will  tolerate.' 

"This  answer  was  a  specimen  of  many  we  used  to  receive  to 
questions  we  were  in  the  habit  of  putting  to  him.  He  would  gen- 
erally close  his  eyes  while  listening  to  a  question  (sometimes  quot- 
ing the  Arabic  proverb,  '  Shut  the  windows  that  there  may  be  light 
in  the  house'),  and  never  answering  until  he  had  made  the  ques- 
tioner state  the  precise  point  of  his  inquiry;  and  then  his  answer 
would  be  simple,  and  careful,  and  generally  rather  disappointing  at 
the  moment;  but  the  more  you  thought  over  it,  the  more  you  appre- 
ciated its  judiciousness  and  adequacy.  In  this  matter  of  answer- 
ing his  student's  questions,  he  would  seem  to  have  been  in  marked 
contrast  to  his  predecessor  at  the  Seminary,  Dr.  Keith,  who  had 
the  faculty  of  replying  to  questions,  pertinent  or  otherwise,  in  a 
manner  which  made  the  young  man  'wish  he  had  not  spoken.' 
With  Dr.  Sparrow,  however,  it  was  otherwise.  I  never  remember, 
but  once,  his  reproving  a  student  in  class,  and  that  he  did  by 
pointing  and  looking  at  the  offender  in  silence,  until  he  felt  as  if  he 
wished  the  earth  would  open  and  swallow  him  up.  But,  as  a  gen- 
eral thing,  he  was  eminently  patient  with  the  difficulties  of  young 
inquiring  minds,  and  would  take  much  pains  to  put  them  on  the 
right  track  when  he  found  them  wandering. 

"As  to  those  frightful  headaches,  from  which  he  suffered  so 
much,  and  which  were  induced  by  such  slight  causes  (I  have  heard 
him  say  that  three  grains  of  black  pepper  would  suffice  to  put  him 
in  misery),  they  were  induced,  he  told  me,  by  his  inordinate  and 
irregular  habits  of  study  when  he  was  an  undergraduate  at  Colum- 


394  MEMOIR    OF 

bia  College,  where,  after  the  occupations  of  the  day,  he  would 
read  far  into  the  night,  under  the  stimulus  of  strong  coffee.  For 
this  imprudence  he  paid  a  heavy,  life-long  penalty.  I  should  rank 
him  among  the  many  men  of  note,  such  as  Baxter  and  Leighton, 
who  have  accomplished  much  work,  and  done  much  good  in  the 
world,  in  spite  of  permanent  bodily  suffering  and  infirmity. 

"Sometimes  the  students  would  apply  to  him  more  formally,  and 
in  writing.  As  an  instance,  I  remember  my  dear  friend  and  fel- 
low-student, Stephen  Gassaway,  who  had  been  brought  under  deep 
convictions  during  a  revival  which  was  experienced  at  Kenyon  in 
the  year  1838-39. 

"The  question  Mr.  Gassaway  submitted  was  as  to  whether  or 
not  he  ought  to  seek  the  ministry;  and  the  answer  of  Dr.  Spar- 
row, if  it  is  extant,  will  be  found  to  be  one  of  the  most  judicious 
and  most  thorough  that  was  ever  written  on  the  subject.  In  a  word, 
he  was  always  accessible  to  his  students,  patient  and  pains-taking 
in  considering  their  difficulties,  and  eminently  wise  and  satisfactory 
in  his  answers  and  practical  advice. 

"  In  connection  with  Gambier,  I  may  mention  one  more  of  the 
occasions  when  Dr.  Sparrow's  willingness  to  be  '  about  his  Master's 
work'  showed  itself  in  an  interesting  manner,  and  brought  out 
traits  of  character  which  are  not  often  found  in  combination  with 
the  learning  and  acumen,  the  meditative  mood  and  studious  habit, 
which  he  undoubtedly  possessed. 

"  It  was  the  custom  of  the  religious  students  at  Gambier  to  set 
off  early  on  Sunday  mornings  and  distribute  themselves  among  the 
numerous  school-houses,  generally  log  cabins,  which  were  scattered 
through  all  the  country  round  about;  and  when  circumstances 
permitted,  they  made  preaching  appointments  for  the  several  pro- 
fessors who  might  be  disengaged.  I  had  two  such  schools  under 
my  care,  and  succeeded  in  frequently  securing  Dr.  Sparrow  to 
preach  in  one  or  other  of  them. 

"  Those  were  the  days  of  very  primitive  arrangements :  rough 
slabs  for  benches ;  a  tin  bucket  of  water  and  a  dipper,  near  the  door, 
for  thirsty  children ;  babies  in  arms,  or  (when  asleep)  laid  on  the 
floor;  candles,  when  it  was  an  'early  candle-light  preaching/ 
stuck  on  hoops  hung  up,  or  on  blocks  of  wood,  set  on  the  preach- 
ing-desk; men  in  summer  costume  of  new  vest  and  shirt-sleeves; 
women  in  an  indescribable  variety  of  home-made  linsey-woolsey 
and  store-bought  dry  goods ;  occasionally  a  hunter  with  the  accus- 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  395 

tomed  long,  heavy  rifle  in  his  hand,  or  a  traveler  who  would  hitch 
his  horse  to  a  bough  outside,  and  'come  in  for  a  spell,  to  hear 
preaching.' 

"  It  was  in  such  circumstances  as  these,  winter  and  summer,  that 
our  good  Doctor  would  preach  with  a  simplicity  and  directness, 
and  at  the  same  time  with  a  wisdom  and  depth,  that  made  his 
sermons  a  study  and  a  model.  Often  have  I  myself  reproduced  to 
heathen  congregations  in  China,  as  well  as  to  Christian  audiences 
in  Brooklyn,  Newark,  Washington,  Pelham,  Shanghai,  and  Yoko- 
hama, the  very  thoughts  and  turns  of  expression  which  I  have 
heard  drop  from  him  in  '  Schenk's  school-house/  or  by  'Jones'  Bun,' 
in  Ohio. 

"  Once,  I  remember  his  dwelling  with  much  earnestness  on  the 
way  in  which  many  persons  delude  themselves  by  saying :  '  I'm 
not  a  professor  of  religion,  and  therefore  I'm  not  responsible  for 
doing  religious  things.'  His  text,  I  think,  was,  '  Men  ought  always 
to  pray,'  and  he  was  emphasizing  the  first  word,  as  showing  that 
prayer  was  the  duty  of  men,  all  men,  not  of  those  only  who  pro- 
fessed themselves  Christians.  'We  must  not,'  he  urged,  'get  our 
convictions  of  duty  only  by  going  round  through  the  door  of  a 
Christian  profession.' 

"  On  another  occasion,  when  discussing  the  question,  What  is  the 
right  course  to  pursue  when  convinced  of  its  being  our  duty  to 
perform  a  certain  act,  but  at  the  same  time  our  state  of  mind  is 
anything  but  suitable  for  its  performance?  '  Do  the  thing,'  he  said, 
'  and  humble  yourselves  before  God  for  being  in  such  an  unfit  state 
of  mind.' 

"These  are  but  specimens,  and  I  give  them  as  indicating  that 
discriminating  habit  of  thought  which  was  so  sure  to  appear  in 
dealing  with  minds  under  all  circumstances ;  and  in  mentioning, 
above,  the  several  places  to  which  I,  as  one  of  his  hearers,  have 
carried  the  seeds  of  thought  he  dropped,  I  wished  to  show  how 
widespread  his  influence  was.  Moreover,  I  am  satisfied  that  a 
large  proportion  of  his  students  have  done  the  same  thing;  and 
that  not  only  China  and  Japan,  but  Africa  and  Greece,  with  many 
a  parish  and  mission-station  in  the  United  States,  have  been  en- 
riched intellectually  and  theologically  by  the  clear  and  forcible 
ideas  which  he  had  the  peculiar  faculty  of  impressing  on  his 
students,  and  which  .they,  in  turn,  have  imparted  to  others  also. 
Not  that  all  his  thoughts  were  original,  as  being  exclusively  his  own ; 


896  MEMOIR    OP 

and  yet  original  they  were,  as  coming  fresh  from  a  mind  which 
had  made  them  completely  its  own,  and  reproduced  them  with  all 
the  freshness  and  force  of  vivid  and  sincere  conviction. 

"Perhaps  the  most  exciting  (and  I  am  afraid  I  must  add  enjoy- 
able) occasions  on  which  the  college  students  looked  for  a  '  treat/ 
was  when  his  gaunt  form  was  seen  walking  up  to  the  reading-desk 
at  the  time  of  evening  prayers,  and  his  air  was  that  of  one  filled 
with  gentlemanly  indignation,  and  trying  to  repress  it.  Then  every 
one  knew  that  '  something  was  coming '  in  the  way  of  castigation 
for  some  unhappy  collegian  who  had  been  misbehaving  himself. 
The  little  lectures  that  he  gave  on  these  occasions  ranged  over  the 
whole  field  of  college  discipline,  and  I  might  say  of  active  life ;  and 
very  memorable  were  some  of  his  sayings  at  such  times,  not  always 
from  their  unusualness,  but  from  the  simple  earnestness  with  which 
they  were  uttered.  As,  for  instance,  when,  at  the  beginning  of  a 
term,  he  urged  us  to  be  good  and  diligent  workers,  he  added,  in  his 
quiet,  solemn  tones,  'Young  gentlemen,  six  months  is  a  consid- 
erable portion  of  a  lifetime.' 

"So  of  his  sermons  in  the  college  chapel;  they  were  always  looked 
forward  to  with  the  greatest  interest,  and  no  one  dreamed  of  making 
the  silly  complaint  of  their  being  '  long ; '  we  could  have  listened 
for  an  hour  longer,  and  been  thankful  for  it. 

"  When  he  preached  the  baccalaureate  sermon  at  the  time  of 
our  graduation,  in  1840,  he  left  an  ineffaceable  impression  on  our 
minds  by  the  remark :  '  It  is  the  responsibility  of  educated  men 
that  they  must  think  not  only  for  themselves,  but  also  for  others.' 

"  Among  extracts  from  letters,  one  of .  the  first  is  from  a  letter 
dated  December  7,  1867,  and  refers  to  my  (then)  approaching  de- 
parture for  China,  on  what  I  am  accustomed  to  call  my  third  mis- 
sionary campaign : — 

" '  Your  letter  startled  me,  and  on  reflection  gave  me  pleasure. 
Though  I  feel  an  old  man's  weakness  in  not  liking  to  see  early 
friends  locally  separated  from  me,  yet,  as  I  know  it  is  according  to 
your  mind,  and  will  give  you  a  field  of  usefulness  for  which  you 
are  eminently  qualified,  I  rejoice.  I  hope,  too,  if  you  should  be  so 
inclined,  you  may  be  put  back  into  your  old,  and,  as  I  suppose,  your 
proper  sphere  of  labor.' 

"This  last  remark  had  reference  to  my  being  reappointed  as  a 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  397 

missionary  of  our  Board.     I  was  going  out  to  Shanghai  for  two 
years,  as  seamen's  chaplain. 

" '  It  is  a  real  satisfaction  to  me,  that  I  shall  once  more  have  the 
opportunity  of  shaking  hands  with  you,  and  that  I  shall  be  per- 
mitted to  bid  .you  and  your  dear  wife  "  God  speed,"  as  you  set  out 
for  that  land  which  is  full  of  profoundest  interest  to  me  as  a  field 
of  Christian  beneficence,  and  the  depository  of  the  remains  of  my 
dear  Susan.1 

"  No  one  knows  better  than  myself,  perhaps  none  now  living  so 
well,  what  an  amount  of  fatherly  love  and  Christian  resignation 
lay  hidden  in  this  reference  to  his  'dear  Susan.'  She  was  his 
very  dear,  I  might  almost  say  his  favorite  daughter;  though  it 
was  not  easy  for  him  to  distinguish  between  those,  all  of  whom  he 
loved  so  well. 

"He  had  strong  views  of  the  value  of  home  education,  and  a  great 
horror  of  the  evils  to  which  all  schools  are  liable ;  and  certainly  no 
family  ever  grew  up  more  'ignorant  of  evil '  than  his.  Susan  was 
eminently  a  'child  of  nature,'  and  from  the  time  when  she  was  my 
pupil,  at  the  age  of  nine,  up  to  the  day  when  she  came  out  to 
China,  as  the  wife  of  Eev.  Dudley  D.  Smith,  and  took  charge  (for 
a  season)  of  my  motherless  children,  she  showed  herself  one  of  the 
most  devoted,  cheerful,  unselfish  Christians  I  ever  met  with ;  per- 
haps the  very  most. 

"  This  was  a  result  (so  far  as  education  can  produce  such  results) 
of  the  pure,  unsophisticated  home-training  which  she  and  her 
sisters  had  received,  and  of  the  impressions  made  by  the  character 
of  mother  as  well  as  father.  Mrs.  Sparrow  was  absorbingly  devo- 
ted to  her  children ;  to  such  a  degree,  indeed,  as  to  make  it  difficult 
for  any  but  the  most  intimate  friends  to  attain  to  a  due  appreciation 
of  her  influence  and  attainments.  Her  reading  was  thorough  and 
extensive,  so  that  she  sympathized  intelligently  in  her  husband's 
intellectual  pursuits ;  and  could  (as  I  had  occasion  to  know;  co-ope- 
rate earnestly  in  her  children's  advancement  in  all  that  goes  under 
the  name  of  '  schooling.'  She  had,  also,  the  reputation  of  being 
a  great  Shakspearean,  although,  as  before  remarked,  she  mixed  so 
little  in  general  society  that  this  fact  could  only  be  known  to  those 
who  constituted  the  home  circle. 

"  I  lost  the  opportunity  of  seeing  them  all  more  intimately,  by 


398  MEMOIR    OP 

hot  accompanying  the  family  when  they  '  took  up  their  carriages  ' 
and  migrated  in  a  body  from  Gambier  to  Alexandria.  Two  '  stages ' 
were  chartered  for  the  purpose,  and  it  was  more  like  the  setting  out 
of  a  caravan  than  anything  one  could  witness  now  in  the  same  re- 
gion. Wheeling  was  to  be  a  stopping-place,  and  I  well  remember 
the  hearty  letter  of  welcome  and  invitation  received -from  good  Dr. 
Armstrong  on  the  occasion.  It  said :  '  Come  one,  come  all ;  we  can 
easily  put  you  up.  You  have  but  seven  children,  and  I  have  only 
three,  which  altogether  makes  two  less  than  the  canonical  number!' 
Which  last  remark  caused  Dr.  Sparrow  a  hearty  laugh.  '  I  never 
knew  before,'  he  said,  'what  the  canonical  number  was!'  He 
needed  something  to  cheer  him  up  at  that  time,  for  this  moving 
was  a  painful  trial. 

"To  return  to  his  letter.  I  had  suggested  that  a  relative  (one of 
his  sons-in-law)  might  like  to  take  the  pleasant  parish  I  was  vacat- 
ing, and  to  this  Dr.  Sparrow's  answer  was : — 

" '  I  sent  your  letter  to ,  but  I  have  no  idea  he  will  accept. 

To  say  all  in  a  word,  there  would  not  be  enough  of  stirring  work 
for  him.  If  his  father-in-law  were  offered  it,  he  would  be  in  much 
more  of  a  temper  to  accept  it  than  he. 

"  '  With  the  very  best  wishes  to  Mrs.  Syle,  I  am,  dear  brother, 
"'Affectionately  yours,  W.  SPARROW.' 

"And  when  he  said  'affectionately  yours,'  he  meant  it  all. 

"  The  next  letter  is  without  date  of  month  or  year;  but  it  must 
have  been  when  our  good  Doctor  'came  North,'  on  an  errand  which 
must  have  been  a  martyrdom  to  him,  an  errand  connected  with  the 
collection  of  money  for  restoring  the  Seminary  property  after  the 
damage  it  had  sustained  during  the  war.  I  presume  it  was  the 
knowledge  of  how  repulsive  to  him  was  the  office  of  money-gath- 
erer that  led  to  the  considerate  course  of  action  to  which  he 
refers. 

"'PHILADELPHIA,  Wednesday  Morning,  6  o'clock  A.  M. 
"*EEV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER: — 

"  'Here  I  am  at  Dudley's,  having  arrived  in  this  city  last  night. 
It  is  almost  the  first  leisure  moment  I  have  had  since  I  left  your 
pleasant  abode,  or  I  should  have  written  you  before.  The  breth- 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  399 

ren  have  printed  a  circular  asking  $5000  for  the  repair  and  fitting 
up  of  our  tenements  and  grounds.  They  are  to  send  this  circular 
themselves,  and  receive  the  avails,  and  so  relieve  me  of  further 
trouble.  It  is  signed  by  Dr.  Dyer,  Dr.  Smith,  and  Messrs.  Sabine, 
Tyng,  Jr.,  and  J.  H.  Smith.  If  they  succeed,  oh,  what  a  relief  it 
will  be ! 

"  *  I  enclose  a  dollar  to  pay  for  what  I  borrowed  of  you.  It  falls 
short  of  what  I  owe  you,  but  I  know  not  how  much.  We  can 
adjust  the  matter  when  we  meet;  if  it  should  be  the  Lord's  will, 
we  shall.  '  If  the  Lord  will '  seems  to  be  most  appropriate  every- 
where now.  I  go  back  to  my  winter's  work  feeling  very  doubtful 
if  I  shall  ever  return  North  again.  What  a  dream,  a  brief  dream, 
life  is !  How  long,  and  yet  short,  the  time  since  you  and  I  first 
met !  The  Lord  prepare  us  for  our  change,  be  it  far  off  or  near. 

" '  Please  present  me  most  kindly  to  Mrs.  Syle.  I  wish  I  could 
have  had  a  quiet  day's  talk  with  her.  Kemember  me  to  the  child- 
ren, and  believe  me,  as  ever, 

" '  Your  friend  and  brother,  WILLIAM  SPARROW. 

"  'Rev.  K  W.  Syle,  Pelham  Priory,  N.  Y.' 

"  I  give  this  letter  entire,  in  spite  of — or,  rather,  because  of — its 
tone  of  domesticity,  for  this  was  one  of  his  leading  characteristics; 
love  of  home,  and  a  profound  sense  of  the  importance  of  the  Fam- 
ily, as  distinguished  from  all  other  forms  of  human  association.  I 
remember  his  finding  fault  with  some  of  my  letters  from  China, 
because  they  were  too  exclusively  occupied  with  public  matters,  and 
did  not  give  the  details  of  family  life,  what  the  Chinese  ate  and 
drank,  and  how  the  women  and  children  occupied  themselves,  etc. 
Also,  what  was  the  daily,  domestic  life  of  the  missionary  and  his 
wife :  how  they  fared,  and  what  intercourse  they  had  with  other 
families.  He  was  much  struck  and  pleased  with  a  remark  which  I 
related  to  him  as  having  heard  fall  from  Archbishop  Whately,  in 
a  conversation  which  turned  on  Macaulay's  History  of  England, 
then  recently  published.  The  Archbishop  said:  'Macaulay  is 
right;  we  want  to  know  the  daily  life  of  the  common  people.  No 
one  can  prize  Thucydides  more  than  I  do;  yet  I  would  give  all 
Thucydides  ever  wrote  for  the  diary  of  an  Athenian  fish-woman 
for  one  day:  what  she  ate;  what  was  the  price  of  her  fish;  what 
orator  she  heard  speak  in  the  agora,  etc.'  Perhaps  he  was  the  more 
alive  to  these  points,  at  that  particular  time,  because  they  were 


400  MEMOIR    OP 

then  thinking  of  the  dear  daughter  Susan,  who  was  about  to  enter, 
herself,  on  the  experiences  of  missionary  life.  Her  early  death  was 
a  very  severe  blow,  and  all  the  home-circle  felt  it  keenly ;  but  when 
I  asked  the  tender-hearted  father  whether,  all  things  considered,  he 
had  not  regretted  her  going  abroad,  'No,'  he  said,  ' never;  her's 
was  a  holy  calling,  and  she  fulfilled  it.  Neither  myself  nor  Mrs. 
Sparrow  ever  regretted  giving  our  consent.'  This,  to  me,  was  a 
great  satisfaction,  for  I  knew  that  Susan's  coming  out  to  China  had 
been  partly  through  my  influence. 

"Reverting  to  the  subject  of  family  life,  and  its  importance.  On 
one  occasion  we  were  at  Arlington  together,  and  were  looking  over 
Mr.  Custis'  library,  when  Dr.  Sparrow's  eye  fell  on  a  copy  of  Bowd- 
ler's  Expurgated  edition  of  Shakspeare,  the  idea  of  which  he 
praised  warmly,  as  enabling  us  to  read  the  great  poet  freely  in  our 
families,  without  the  risk  of  encountering  passages  marred  by  ob- 
scenity and  profaneness. 

"  It  was  his  high  esteem  of  the  family,  and  his  deep  conviction  of 
the  advantages  resulting  to  all  parties  concerned  from  the  existence 
of  a  married,  rather  than  a  celibate  ministry,  that  gave  an  extra 
edge  to  his  severity  against  Rome;  indeed,  he  hardly  seemed  to 
know  which  his  heart  and  conscience  most  revolted  against,  Mo- 
nasticism  or  Sacerdotalism.  On  one  occasion  we  were  engaged 
together  in  an  examination  of  pupils  in  Virgil,  and  the  teacher — 
who  had  been  a  Roman  Catholic — while  putting  questions  about 
the  history  and  character  of  Dido,  took  occasion  to  make  some  dis- 
paraging remarks  about  women  in  general,  especially  married 
women.  After  the  examination,  and  when  we  were  alone,  Dr. 

Sparrow  remarked :  'Did  you  observe  's  sneer  about  Dido? 

You  see  how  the  vice  of  Romanism — disparagement  of  the  mar- 
riage state— clings  to  him,  though  he  has  come  over  to  our  Church; 
that  miserable  delusion  and  fallacy  that  the  single  life  is  something 
better,  purer,  holier  than  the  married  state;  which  is  an  idea  de- 
rogatory to  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  the  Creator.' 

"  In  thorough  antagonism  to  all  things  which  are  rightly  called 
Romish,  as  distinguished  from  Catholic,  I  believe  Dr.  Sparrow  and 
myself  were  in  perfect  accord;  even  more  than  in  regard  to  Mis- 
sions, as  the  supreme  work  of  the  Christian  Church.  As  a  Mis- 
sionary man  he  was  not  showy,  or  even  ardent,  but  very  thorough 
and  reliable ;  witness  the  unregretted  giving  up  to  the  work  of  his 
dearly-loved  daughter. 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  401 

"  These  remarks  seemed  necessary,  as  an  introduction  to  the  next 
letter,  which  was  addressed  to  me  after  I  had  arrived  in  China : — 


" '  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  August  19, 1868. 
"  'REV.  AND  DEAR  BROTHER  : — 

"'I  am  ashamed  that  your  letter  should  have  remained  without 
an  answer  so  long.  I  read  it  with  much  interest,  and,  in  most 
respects,  I  take  the  same  view  of  the  condition  of  the  world  and 
of  the  cause  of  Missions,  especially  in  our  Church,  that  you  do.  I 
think,  however,  that  your  views  are  rather  more  sombre  than  they 
ought  to  be.  Not  only  do  I  believe,  on  the  Divine  testimony,  that 
all  things  are  working  steadily  onward  for  good,  but  I  fancy,  amid 
the  actual  confusion,  the  abounding  iniquity,  and  the  seeming  fail- 
ure of  well-meant  effort,  the  beginnings  of  a  better  state  of  things. 
It  is  a  long  and  laborious  task  to  draw  the  seine  around ;  but  once 
done,  then  comes  the  great  'draught  of  fishes.'  The  one  single 
thing  that  troubles  me  is  the  low  state  of  religion  among  profess- 
ing Christians.  With  Rome,  it  cannot  improve;  the  system  will 
not  bear  it;  but  among. us  it  is  not  so;  we  are  far,  far  below  our 
system.  "  The  Lord  amend  this  blindness,"  and  this  hardness ! 

"  'What  you  say  about  Hoffman's  memoir  is  too  true.  So  thinks 
the  public.  It  does  not  sell.  The  preface  is  nothing.  The  author's 
name,  however,  may  have  helped  it  in  England;  but  here,  it  expe- 
riences no  aid  from  that  particular.  As  a  composition,  the  memoir 
may  be  lacking  in  skill,  the  biographer's  comments  in  enlargement, 
and  the  work,  as  a  whole,  in  condensation ;  and  yet,  to  pious  minds, 
that  read  for  spiritual  edification  and  exercise,  it  must  be  profitable. 
Hoffman's  death  was  remarkable,  and  the  style  of  his  religious  life 
truly  evangelical.  Few  men  "  rejoiced  in  the  Lord  "  more  fully 
than  he,  or  rose  more  uniformly  above  carnal  despondency ;  and 
yet  his  elation  was  not  of  the  kind  that  brings  on  reaction.  In 
that  view  it  was  healthier,  perhaps,  than  the  religion  of  Martyn,  of 
whom  you  speak. 

" '  Dear  brother,  I  rejoice  to  think  that  you  are  now  fairly  engaged 
on  heathen  ground ;  and  though  your  direct  duty  is  to  Christians, 
so  called,  yet  that  the  heathen  will  also  profit  by  your  labors. 

" '  I  have  often  heard  D speak  of  your  fitness  for  Chinese 

labor,  and  longed  to  see  you  returned  to  it.     The  cause  of  Foreign 
Missions  seems  at  a  low  ebb  among  us.     The  Hartford  paper  pro- 
26 


402  MEMOIR    OP      • 

nounced  Domestic  Missions  tenfold  more  important.  But  at  pres- 
ent our  Church  is  so  taken  up  with  little  things — the  millinery  of 
religion,  matters  of  color,  and  form,  and  sound,  and  gesture,  and 
posture,  and  movement,  with  rubrics  and  canons — that  no  time,  or 
space,  or  heart,  is  left  for  large  ideas.  But  we  pray,  and  look  to 
see  "this  calamity  overpast."  How  it  is  to  be  brought  about,  to 
be  sure,  we  do  not  see,  but  we  walk  by  faith.  Individuals  may  go 
back  and  bury  themselves  in  Romish  superstition ;  but  surely  this 
Protestant  Church  is  not  going  to  eat  its  own  words,  condemn  its 
own  history,  and  bring  back  the  Middle  Ages  as  the  Ages  of  Light, 
as  Dr.  Dix  calls  them.  It  is  not  to  be  believed ;  and  yet  the  cur- 
rent is  so  strong  in  the  direction  of  Rome,  that  it  does  not  at  all 
appear  how  it  can  be  stayed. 

" '  Our  mother  Church  of  England  has  a  twofold  trouble,  within 
and  without.  The  Establishment  is  doomed.  It  is  only  a  question 
of  time,  as  with  the  Reform  Bill,  Catholic  Emancipation,  and  the 
like.  Oh,  that  English  Episcopalians  might  know  the  day  of  their 
visitation !  But  they  never  have  done  so,  and  why  should  they 
now  ?  To  me  there  seems  to  be  a  singular  want  of  ability  among 
them  to  see  themselves  as  others  see  them.  They  appear  unable  to 
grasp  big  ideas,  and  stand  to  them.  Propriety  and  red-tape,  and 
prescription  and  caste,  are  their  dependence!  Forgive  me  if  I  am 
•treading  on  the  toes  of  your  opinions.  [He  could  hardly  have  ex- 
pressed them  more  exactly.  E.  W.  S.] 

"•'Just  here  things  go  their  old  way.  We  closed  a  happy  term 
:in  June,  with  fifty  students,  and  hope,  with  God's  blessing,  to  do 
as  well  next  year. 

"  'I  have  just  come  from  Ohio.  Saw  my  brother  and  sister  and 
the  graves  of  my  parents.  Kenyon  is  in  difficulty  again.  Presi- 
dent Stone  preached  ritualism,  and  retired  to  Hobart  College, 
Geneva,  where  he  was  more  at  home.  When  your  next  letter  comes 
it  shall  be  answered  more  promptly.  The  family  all  join  me  in 
best  wishes  to  you  and  Mrs.  Syle. 

" '  Ever  affectionately  yours,  WILLIAM  SPARROW. 

"  'Rev.  Mr.  Syle,  Shanghai.' 

"  Of  the  many  suggestive  topics  in  the  foregoing  letter,  I  will  only 
remark  on  one,  the  position  of  the  English  Church  and  its  clergy. 
On  his  return  from  a  visit  to  England  and  Ireland,  I  remember 
asking  Dr.  Sparrow  what  things  most  struck  him  in  the  aspect  of 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  403 

affairs,  and  among  those  he  mentioned  were  the  infatuated  inability 
(above  mentioned)  to  read  the  'signs  of  the  times '  as  regards  the 
coming  disestablishment,  and  also  the  remarkable  clinging,  on  the 
part  of  the  'Evangelical'  clergy,  to  the  union  of  Church  and  State, 
for  which  Dr.  Sparrow  found  it  difficult  to  account.  '  In  consist- 
ency with  their  principles,'  he  said,  'they  ought  to  sit  loose  from 
any  such  arrangement,  but,  on  the  contrary,  they  seem  to  be 
especially  fond  of  it.  Perhaps,'  he  added,  'they  find  themselves 
obliged  to  protest  against  so  many  things  in  the  life  and  principles 
of  their  friends  and  patrons,  that  they  are  glad  to  have  one  point 
on  which  they  find  it  possible  to  pull  together,  and  this  predisposes 
them  to  Establishmentarianism.' 

"  I  leave  the  explanation  for  what  it  may  be  worth,  and  only  men- 
tion one  little  matter  connected  with  this  home  visit,  which  is  an 
illustration  of  the  childlike  tenderness  of  his  feelings : — 

" '  Nothing  seems  to  me  so  perfectly  beautiful  as  the  scenery  in 
North  Wales.  Early  one  morning  I  went  out  to  walk  by  the  hill- 
side, and  there  I  saw  a  daisy,  the  first  one  I  had  seen  for  many, 
many  years.  I  must  confess,  Mr.  Syle,  that  then  I  made  a  fool  of 
myself;  I  shed  tears,  just  from  the  instinct  of  emotion.' 

"  His  relatives,  the  Roes,  of  Dublin,  were  spoken  of  by  him  with 
the  greatest  regard  and  admiration,  as  having  refreshed  his  spirit 
to  an  especial  degree  during  this  visit  to  his  native  land.  He 
seemed  to  think  the  Christian  family  life  he  saw  among  them  to  be 
the  loveliest  and  holiest  he  had  ever  met  with ;  a  little  Paradise 
Regained,  a  heaven  upon  earth. 

"  Far  otherwise  was  the  impression  made  upon  him  by  his  short 
sojourn  in  France ;  '  there/  he  said, '  the  moral  atmosphere  oppressed 
and  stifled  '  him.  Yet  he  was  charmed  with  the  peasantry,  and  so 
much  interested  in  their  Evangelization,  that  he  suggested  my 
going  to  labor  among  them,  thinking  my  characteristics  suited  for 
that  field.* 

"France  and  Italy  are  certainly  now  more  accessible  to  true 
Christian  influences  than  they  have  been  in  many  centuries ;  nay, 

*  His  daughter  Susan  was  similarly  affected  by  her  sojourn  in  Italy.  They  both 
seemed  to  be  persuaded  that  these  fields  were  fast  ripening  for  a  great  harvest.  And 
is  this  not  the  case  ? 


404  MEMOIR    OP 

we  almost  see  the  'beginning  of  the  end/  when  the  man  of  sin  is 
dethroned,  and  those  who  have  pre-eminently  'given  their  power 
and  strength  unto  the  beast '  are  humbled  and  made  weak. 

"  The  school  to  which  reference  is  made  in  the  next  extract,  writ- 
ten in  1870,  is  one  still  in  operation  at  Shanghai,  established  for 
the  benefit  of  Chinese  children,  and  supported  by  local  contribu- 
tions. It  is  now  under  the  fostering  care  and  charge  of  two  of  our 
own  missionaries,  and  stands  as  a  '  memorial '  of  Mrs.  Bridgman, 
a  lady  who  first  went  out  to  China  in  1844,  as  a  teacher  under 
Bishop  Boone. 

'"I  can  truly  say  your  letter  afforded  me  real  pleasure ;  partly 
because  I  am  always  glad  to  hear  from  you,  and  partly  because  you 
seem  so  happy  in  your  work.  The  school  enterprise  strikes  me  as 
important  for  its  own  sake,  and  because  it  enlists  the  interests,  and 
energies,  and  means  of  those  on  the  spot,  foreigners  and  natives. 
I  was  struck  with  the  contributions  of  the  latter. 

"  'It  is  delightful  to  think  that,  amid  the  confusions  now  prevail- 
ing in  Christendom,  and  the  cries  we  are  hearing  every  day,  "  Lo> 
here,  and  lo,  there,"  we  know  where  we  can  find,  and  have,  and 
hold,  and  enjoy  the  Divine  Master — even  in  laboring  for  the  indi- 
vidual men  for  whom  He  died — in  ministering  to  the  saints,  and 
plucking  brands  from  the  burning. 

"  '  Everything  in  the  Church  (universal)  indicates  to  me  great  and 
beneficent  changes.  In  the  Sixteenth  century  the  Reformation 
took  place ;  but  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  at  one  stroke,  and 
in  one  generation,  the  then  inveterate  and  multitudinous  errors 
that  had  crept  into  Christianity  could  be  abolished.  The  Reform- 
ers did  much,  but  not  all  that  was  to  be  done.  The  residuum  is 
about  to  be  cared  for  and  disposed  of.  They  escaped  out  of  the 
furnace,  but  they  carried  with  them  the  smell  of  fire  on  their  skirts. 
That  foul  odor  is  to  be  removed.  The  disestablishment  of  all 
churches  is  a  great  means  to  this  end.  I  am  glad  the  Church  of 
Ireland  is  gone;  it  ought  to  have  gone  long  ago.  I  pray  that 
English  Episcopalians  may  have  wisdom  to  see  the  change  coming 
on  themselves,  and,  instead  of  striving  to  ward  it  off,  try  to  prepare 
for  it.  They  have  not  hitherto  exhibited  such  wisdom.  The 
Bishops,  are  too  far  removed  from  the  people  to  catch  the  true  spirit 
.of  the  times,  and  so  to  understand  themselves  and  their  duties.  So 
long  as  Bishops  think  the  Church  was  made  for  them  (and  by  them), 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  405 

and  not  they  for  the  Church,  so  long  we  may  expect  to  see  them 
act  as  infatuated,  "  demented  "  men.  However,  they  have  oppor- 
tunities of  learning,  in  this  Nineteenth  century,  which  their 
predecessors  had  not. 

"  '  You  English  are  a  fine  people  when  you  get  started  in  the  right 
way ;  but  when  in  the  wrong — oh,  you  are  terribly  wrong-headed. 

" '  As  to  our  own  Church,  we  think  and  feel  very  much  as  does 
the  Church  of  England — through  our  Bishops.  "We  import  annu- 
ally a  large  measure  of  the  sacerdotal,  prelatical,  and  "Established" 
sentiment,  through  our  traveling  clergy,  especially  of  the  highest 
order.  It  is  not  only  silk  aprons  and  shorts,  and  shoe-buckles  and 
shovel -hats  they  bring  back.  These  are  only  the  deck  freight ;  the 
hold  is  full  of  high  notions  of  spiritual  power,  utterly  incompatible 
with  the  principles  and  spirit  of  the  Gospel.  Our  Church  will  never 
be  what  she  ought  to  be  till  these  foreign  notions  are  exorcised  from 
our  Bishops,  and  that  large  class  which  exists  among  us — aspirants 
to  the  Episcopate ! 

" '  The  Seminary  is  very  much  blessed,  all  things  considered. 
Though  my  close  approximation  to  threescore  and  ten  makes  me 
slow  and  increases  my  labor,  yet,  thus  far,  perhaps,  I  do  my  duty 
with  very  little  diminution  of  my  ordinary  amount  of  efficiency. 
But  it  can't  last  long. 

"  '  Bishop  Johns  continues  to  labor  as  much  as  could  be  expected 
for  his  years.  Bishop  Whittle  is  a  most  valuable  assistant.  Oh, 
that  all  our  bishops  were  like  him !  Virginia  has  been  much 
blessed  in  all  her  bishops  except  the  first. 

" '  The  next  time  I  go  to  New  York  I  will  endeavor  to  see  Henry. 
I  shall  always  take  an  interest  in  him  for  your  sake  and  his  mother's. 

"  '  If  Mrs.  Sparrow  and  Frances  were  at  my  elbow,  they  would 
send  their  warmest  regards  to  you  and  Mrs.  Syle.  You  can  never 
be  forgotten  in  my  family,  nor  thought  of  but  with  an  affectionate 
interest.  Ever  truly, 

" '  Your  friend  and  brother. 

'"P.  S.  With  this  I  send  a  copy  of  my  last  Commencement 
Address.  You  will  think  me  outspoken.' 


"I  take  occasion,  by  the  allusion  to  Bishops  being  'far  removed 
from  the  people,'  to  record  Dr.  Sparrow's  extreme  jealousy  of 
everything  that  tended  to  set  off  the  clergy  by  themselves,  as  a 


406  MEMOIR    OP 

sacerdotal  class.  On  one  occasion,  we  were  admiring  a  new  church- 
building,  I  forget  where,  but  I  remember  that  it  had  an  unusual 
number  of  'steps  to  the  altar,'  and  that  all  its  chancel  arrange- 
ments were  elaborate  and  spacious,  and  deeply  'recessed.' 

"'All  this,'  he  said,  'tends  in  the  wrong  direction;  it  separates 
the  minister  from  the  congregation,  and  isolates  him,  so  that  he 
does  not  feel  one  with  them.  These  architectural  peculiarities  all 
help  to  foster  the  sacerdotal  temper,  and  are,  therefore,  not  matters 
of  indifference.' 

'"THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  July  26,  1872. 

" '  I  am  growing  old  very  fast,  but  I  do  not  find  that  it  makes  me 
forget  old  friends.  It  may  unfit  me  for  writing  to  them,  but  it  does 
not  indispose  or  disable  my  mind  from  recalling  the  years  when, 
however  far  apart  now,  we  were  associated  together. 

"  'Since  I  last  wrote  to  you,  many  things  have  occurred  to  me. 
My  friends,  last  summer,  sent  me  for  my  health  to  Europe.  I  was 
absent  about  three  months,  chiefly  in  England  and  Ireland.  Last 
spring,  I  had  an  attack  of  pneumonia,  which  tried  me  much. 

"'As  I  was  convalescing,  Mrs.  S.  was  taken  down  with  heart- 
disease  and  rheumatism ;  and  waiting  upon  us  brought  a  severe 
attack  upon  dear  Frances.  She  is  now  as  usual,  but  Mrs.  S.  is 
very  feeble,  so  that  I  have  been  compelled  to  employ  a  lady  to  take 
the  burden  of  housekeeping  off  her  shoulders.  Thus  continue  we 

to  this  hour.' 

****** 

[More  domestic  details,  showing  his  tender  interest  in  children 

and  grandchildren.] 

*  *  *  *  *  * 

' '  I  have  written  all  this,  first,  because  it  may  be  news  to  you ;  and, 
secondly,  because  I  want  to  provoke  you  to  make  a  return  in  kind. 
I  very  much  desire  to  know  "all  about  you."  I  hope  the  Lord  has 
prospered  you  in  your  work,  though  you  are  not  permitted  to  see 
the  fruit  of  your  labor  as  are  pastors  with  settled  congregations. 
But  work  that  tells  on  eternity,  for  the  present  visible  or  invisible, 
is  the  work  which  we  love  to  contemplate,  the  older  we  grow. 

"  '  You  see  from  the  papers  the  state  of  this  Church.  Not  very 
satisfactory !  The  ship  has  drifted  from  her  course,  according  to 
the  observation  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  and  yet  we  insist  on  sailing 
by  the  uncorrected  log !  Oh,  that  Providence  would  raise  up  a  few 


WILLIAM    SPAR-ROW,    D.  D.  407 

great  minds,  spiritually  taught  and  of  large  influence,  to  bring  us 
out  of  this  fog  and  darkness ! 

"  'Do  write  me  soon.     Mrs.  S.  and  Frances  send  their  love. 
" '  Your  old  and  unchanged  friend.1 

"  And  now  I  come  to  his  last  letter,  the  saddest  and  most  touch- 
ing of  all  I  had  ever  received  from  him,  as  well  it  might  be,  for  it 
tells  of  his  great  bereavement ! 

"  I  had  written  in  ignorance  of  Mrs.  Sparrow's  death,  yet  fear- 
ing, from  an  allusion  in  one  of  the  papers,  that  it  might  be  the 
sorrow  referred  to,  and  this  was  his  reply : — 

"'October  14,  1873. 
" '  DEAR  BROTHER  SYLE  : — 

"  '  Your  letter,  20th  of  August,  reached  me  a  few  weeks  ago.  All 
that  you  inferred  from  the  allusion  in  the  "Southern  Churchman" 
is  true.  Here  I  am  alone,  with  dear  Frances  (who  is  about  as  she 
has  been),  and  a  housekeeper  and  two  servants.  Though  poor 
Frances,  with  most  touching  diligence,  takes  care  of  me,  the  charge 
of  the  household  was  altogether  beyond  her  strength.  Though  I 
have  had  eight  months'  sad  experience,  the  feeling  of  loneliness  is 
extreme.  My  mind  almost  recoils  from  the  thought  of  winter, 
when  I  know  the  feeling  must  be  tenfold.  But  of  that  enough. 

"  '  My  dear  wife,  who  always  took  great  interest  in  your  letters 
and  yourself,  and  always  valued,  more  than  you  imagined,  your 
wise  and  faithful  instruction  in  our  family,  was  unwell  long  before 
she  was  taken  from  us.  The  latter  part  of  last  year  she  was  very 
sick,  but  partially  recovered.  In  the  beginning  of  this,  as  our 
wedding  day  was  approaching,  she  told  me  we  should  never  cele- 
brate another.  She  hardly  celebrated  that  one.  She  was  down  to 
breakfast,  but  could  not  appear  at  dinner,  though  a  few  friends  had 
been  invited  to  dine  with  us.  After  she  had  been  most  seriously 
sick  for  a  fortnight,  I  was  myself  taken  down,  from  exhaustion  and 
anxiety,  which  brought  on  a  fever.  The  bitter  reflection  in  that 
retrospect  is,  that  I  never  saw  her  again.  My  sickness  was  so 
severe  and  nigh  unto  death,  that  I  was  not  permitted,  in  truth  was 
not  able,  to  go  to  her  bedside.  I  only  heard  the  feet  that  carried 
her  to  the  hearse.  When  I  last  saw  her,  her  consciousness  was 
nearly  gone.  She  knew  nobody  but  myself;  though  she  lingered 
several  days.  As  to  her  spiritual  state,  thank  God,  there  is  no 


408  MEM-OIR    OP 

bitterness,  but  joy  and  full  assurance.  For  forty-six  years  she 
lived  before  me,  in  matters  great  and  small,  such  an  example  of 
intelligent  conscientiousness,  of  true  religious  devotion,  of  self- 
control  and  self-denial,  of  laborious  love,  of  delicate  consideration, 
of  truthfulness,  fairness,  and  honesty,  and,  above  all,  of  entire  unself- 
ishness, as  I  never  saw  anywhere  else,  and  never  expect  to  see  in 
this  world !  Oh,  how  my  soul  blushes  to  think  what  a  life  I  lived" 
in  her  presence,  and  what  a  contrast  it  formed  to  her  Christ-like 
character  and  conduct !  I  am  humbled  and  ashamed  before  God 
that  I  learned  so  little  from  her  marvelous  character.  I  often  ask 
myself,  What  sort  of  a  man,  Christian  and  minister,  would  I  have 
proved  if  I  had  fallen  into  other  hands,  seeing,  as  things  were,  what 
I  am?  I  am  almost  ready  to  use  St.  Paul's  language  and  say, 
Surely  I  would  have  been  a  "castaway."  But  I  must  stop  this. 
Excuse  what  I  have  written.  I  know  it  is  unnecessary  for  you; 
but  the  moment  I  touch  this  subject  the  floodgates  fly  open. 
Many  things  which  you  have  said  have  gone  very  near  my  heart, 
especially  your  reference  to  Sue,  and  the  meeting  of  the  mother 
and  daughter  in  heaven.  But  here  again  I  must  stop.  During  all 
my  trial  of  sickness  and  death,  and  protracted  sickness  in  my  own 
person  afterward,  my  own  children  have  been  a  great  comfort  to  me. 
This,  too,  I  owe  to  the  departed ! 

"  'The  Seminary  prospers  very  fairly.  We  have  just  celebrated 
our  first  jubilee,  with  much  success.  Our  students  are  nearly  fifty. 
We  have  four  Professors,  the  addition  being  Dr.  McElhinney,  from 
Gambier.  I  have  now  but  one  lecture  a  day.  That  much  I  can 
do,  perhaps,  as  well  as  ever.  During  my  long  trial  and  sickness, 
all,  especially  the  Trustees,  were  very,  very  kind  to  me,  for  which 
I  thank  God. 

"  '  I  have  been  to  New  York  within  a  week,  to  attend  the  Evan- 
gelical Alliance.  It  was  the  greatest,  and  most  successful,  and 
most  extraordinary  gathering  of  Christians  ever  held,  I  am  not 
afraid  to  say,  in  the  history  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  This  country, 
the  Church,  and  the  world,  has  been  moved  by  it.  But  you  must 
see  the  papers  and  judge  for  yourself.  New  York  surpassed  all 
previous  example  in  hospitality.  Our  European  brethren  have 
gone  back  to  their  homes  amazed  alike  at  the  extent  and  progress 
of  this  country,  and  the  largeness  of  its  hospitality.  So  they  said, 
again  and  again. 

"  '  But  I  must  close.     Dear  Mr.  Syle,  I  thank  you  for  your  letter. 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D. 

For  the  little  while  I  can  hope  to  remain  in  this  world,  do,  now  and 
again,  cheer  me  with  a  letter.  Long  have  we  been  friends.  Let 
us  keep  the  chain  bright  unto  the  end.  My  thanks  and  kindest 
regards  to  Mrs.  Syle.  Frances  desires  her  truest  love. 

"  '  Your  affectionate  friend  and  brother,          W.  SPARROW.' 

"There  are  no  comments  to  be  made  on  such  a  farewell  letter  as 
this.  It  forms  a  fitting  close  to  my  reminiscences  of  the  most 
learned  and  most  childlike,  the  wisest  and  the  kindliest,  the  most 
high-minded  and  tender-hearted  friend  I  have  ever  known. 

"-EDWARD  W.  SYLE." 


MEMOIR    OP 


FRAGMENTS 


DOCTRINAL  PURITY. 

"  I  have  been  inclined  to  think,  for  many  years  past,  in  looking 
at  the  condition  of  our  Church,  that  we  have  been,  and  still  are, 
entirely  too  lax  on  the  subject  of  sound  doctrine.  I  am  well  aware 
that  it  is  possible  to  err  in  the  opposite  extreme,  as  I  think  I  could 
name  brethren  of  other  denominations  who  have  been  faulty  in  this 
respect,  enlarging  their  creeds  and  confessions  to  a  voluminous 
extent,  and,  in  the  details  of  doctrine,  running  out  into  the  nicest 
and  most  subtle  metaphysical  distinctions.  If  one  of  another  de- 
nomination may  be  allowed  to  say  it  without  offence,  this  is,  in  my 
judgment,  the  case  with  the  Old  and  New  School  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  They  have  indulged  in  the  splitting  of  hairs  too  much ; 
and,  as  a  natural  consequence,  are  now  divided  into  two  independent 
religious  societies,  for  discrepancies  of  doctrinal  opinion  not  one- 
tenth  part  as  great  as  those  existing  in  some  denominations  which 
still  hold  together.  This  of  the  Presbyterians  is  one  extreme ; 
may  not  ours  be  the  opposite  ?  We  ought  not  always  to  assume 
that  we,  of  course,  travel  the  'via  media,'  nor  even  that  the  'via 
media '  is  the  '  via  recta.' 

"The  controversy  now  going  on  in  the  English  Church  and  our 
own,  and  likely  for  some  time  to  continue,  confirms  my  apprehension 
that  we  have  not  sufficiently  valued  sound  doctrine.  No  people 
can  be  more  strict  than  we  in  regard  to  external  arrangements ;  and 
nothing  endangers  a  man's  reputation  amongst  us  more  than  a 
slight  difference,  on  such  points,  from  the  majority.  But  I  fear 
there  is  great  supineness  among  many  in  regard  to  those  truths 
which  bear  immediately  upon  the  heart  and  life,  and  pertain  to  the 
office  and  work  of  our  Divine  Redeemer.  If  it  were  not  so,  could 
a  people  holding  to  the  Bible,  '  as  containing  all  things  necessary 
to  salvation/  and  believing  it  to  be  so  perfect,  as  its  Author  declared, 
that  we '  must  not  add  thereto  nor  diminish  from  it/  and  receiving  also 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  411 

the  Thirty-nine  Articles  as  a  true  explanation  and  exhibition  of 
Scriptural  Divinity,  receive  so  frequently  and  extensively  the  Oxford 
un-Protestant  novelties,  and  speak  about  them  as  they  do?  It  seems 
to  me  that  many  who  subscribed  the  Articles,  as  a  preliminary  to 
orders,  must  have  forgotten  that  solemn  act,  or  else  the  doctrines 
to  which  their  assent  was  given  and  their  sign-manual  affixed. 
That  these  new  notions  imported  from  Oxford  do  not,  in  general 
spirit  or  in  particulars,  agree  with  the  Articles,  it  is  not  necessary 
to  prove  by  specific  quotations.  Particulars  have  been  adduced  in 
sad  abundance  by  writers  on  the  Scriptural  side  of  this  controversy. 
But  let  any  one  observe  how  the  Oxford  Tractarians  feel  and  speak 
in  regard  to  the  glorious  Reformation,  and  it  is  enough.  One  of 
the  very  first  of  them  (notwithstanding  all  his  superstitions,  I  trust 
now  a  saint  in  heaven,  and  I  fear  a  subject  of  prayer  to  his  sur- 
vivors of  the  same  school)  speaks  in  the  most  unmeasured  language 
of  the  disastrousness  of  that  event,  and  his  brethren  love  to  have 
it  so.  It  is  plain  they  look  upon  the  Church  of  England  as  having 
reformed  too  much.  The  body  of  the  Prayer-book  is  too  much 
filled  with  the  Reformation  spirit ;  for  they  would  prefer  the  one 
which  preceded  it,  when  the  Reformation  was  as  yet  inchoate.  Of 
course,  the  Articles,  which  go  deeper  into  doctrine  and  the  differ- 
ences between  us  and  Rome,  must  be  more  offensive.  Now,  is  it 
not  strange  that  a  Church  calling  itself  Protestant  should  listen  so 
patiently  to  a  condemnation  of  the  Reformation,  and  not  only  so, 
but  also  back  the  censure,  to  a  great  extent,  even  with  applause ! " 

THE  MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  EMULATION. 

"  The  sources  of  proof  are  twofold,  Scripture  and  analysis : 
"  1.  Scripture,  except  in  Galatians,  c.  v,  v.  20,  where  emulations 
fylot  are  condemned,  does  not  directly  speak  upon  this  subject. 
It  exhorts  us  indeed  to  pursue  '  those  things  which  are  lovely  and  of 
good  report ; '  but  the  question  arises,  on  what  ground  ?  Manifestly 
that  the  Christian  may  adorn  his  profession,  and  glorify  Him  that 
called  him,  not  that  he  may .  have  the  unworthy  gratification  of 
looking  down  upon  inferiors.  Scripture  may  be  said  to  consider 
emulation  indirectly,  perhaps.  What  is  the  spirit  which,  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end,  it  inculcates  ?  Humility  and  contentment. 
These  have  reference  one-half  to  our  fellow-men.  So  far  as  these 
virtues  have  such  reference  to  our  fellow-men  they  are  impeded  by 


412  MEMOIR    OF 

the  spirit  of  emulation.  The  disciples  once  disputed  who  should  be 
superior,  'Who  is  the  greatest  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven?'  and 
Jesus  set  a  little  child  in  the  midst  of  them  to  reprove  their  emula- 
tion. Their  work  was  to  '  provoke  to  love  and  good  works.' 

"  2.  All  moral  writers,  nearly,  especially  since  the  days  of  Butler, 
set  down  emulation  as  one  of  our  native  and  allowable  desires. 
Plato  seems  to  have  thought  otherwise,  as  he  made  Emulation  the 
daughter  of  Envy ;  and,  if  language  is  any  index  to  the  mind,  we 
may  suppose  the  Latins  thought  so  too,  as  they  derived  aemulatio, 
through  semulus,  from  dfitUto.  They  define  it,  the  love  of  superi- 
ority. Now,  is  this  allowable  ?  It  is  the  love  of  superiority  as 
such,  not  the  love  of  power,  or  knowledge,  or  virtue,  or  usefulness, 
but  the  desire  to  be  in  a  condition  which  will  enable  us  to  regard 
our  fellow-creatures  as  inferiors.  Now,  if  the  same  desire  exist  in 
them  also,  is  there  not  direct  collision  ?  Is  there  not  a  want  of 
harmony  in  the  organization  of  the  human  mind  and  human 
society  ?  Here  one  man's  gain  is  another's  loss,  and  that  in  the 
exercise  of  allowable  feelings.  Surely,  we  are  not  at  liberty  to 
seek  that  which  is  a  good  to  us  by  being  an  evil  to  others. 

"Admitting,  for  a  moment,  that  emulation  is  innocent,  per  se, 
it  seems  to  be  so  intimately  connected  with  the  selfish  feelings  that 
it  is  dangerous  to  excite  it.  They  seem  to  run  into  one  another,  as 
the  organs  of  taste  and  smell.  It  is  prudent  to  seek  some  other 
mode  of  approaching  the  mind  than  one  which  leads  so  directly  to 
the  principle  of  selfishness. 

"In  determining  what  are  the  original  desires,  it  is  important 
to  bear  in  mind  that  man  is  fallen,  and  that  his  heart  is  full  of  idols, 
otherwise  we  may  be  setting  down  as  allowable  what  is  actually 
sinful. 

"Payne  says  that  the  desire  of  superiority  is  like  the  desire  of 
knowledge,  society,  etc.,  having  nothing  moral  in  itself;  and  as  we 
appeal  to  fear  and  shame,  so  we  may  appeal  to  emulation ;  that  if 
we  give  up  one,  we  must  give  up  all.  But  it  should  be  first  shown 
that  these  emotions  interfere  with  the  desires  of  others,  as  does 
emulation. 

"  It  is  said  that,  like  the  desire  of  power,  per  se,  emulation  has 
no  moral  character.  How,  then,  does  it  acquire  it?  By  exciting 
it  in  view  of  motives?  But  would  we  feel  justified  in  exciting  it 
by  an  explicit  description  of  itself?  Would  it  not  be  better  to  use 
the  many  better  arguments?" 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  413 

TRANSUBSTANTIATION. 

"When  good  men  get  into  bad  habits,  we  are  loth  to  expose  the 
latter,  lest  we  weaken  the  authority  of  the  former.  When,  again, 
systems  of  truth  become  corrupted  with  error,  we  are  afraid  to 
touch  the  latter,  lest  the  former  be  overthrown.  The  ivy  on  the 
wall  is  eating  out  the  cement  and  displacing  the  stones,  yet  we  are 
afraid  to  pluck  up  and  tear  it  away,  lest  the  wall  should  totter.  We 
think  of  the  tares  and  the  wheat  in  the  field,  like  truth  and  error 
in  systems.  In  France  there  must  have  been  good  men  who 
lamented  the  corruptions  of  Christianity,  and  mourned  the  con- 
tempt which  they  occasioned,  and  feared  the  consequences.  But 
they  feared  much  more  to  disabuse  the  public  mind  by  exposing  the 
delusions : — Christianity  must  fall  with  priestcraft. 

"  This  feeling  is  natural,  and  should  be  regarded.  But  it  has  its 
limits;  and  these  limits  are  not  always  the  same.  The  dishonest 
world  sets  no  limits  at  all.  Eash  truthfulness  would  disregard  them 
altogether.  Prudence  would  observe  a  medium.  The  limits  are  not 
the  same  among  an  ignorant,  and  among  a  thinking  people;  in 
Protestant  and  in  Popish  countries ;  at  the  beginning  or  the  end  of  a 
Reformation ;  among  the  friends  and  the  enemies  of  religion.  The 
error  has  usually  been  rather  on  the  side  of  secrecy,  than  that  of 
extensive  exposure.  Human  nature  is  on  that  side. 

"But  the  danger  is  less  than  is  imagined.  When  the  exposure 
comes  from  those  who  are  true  friends  of  the  cause  with  which  the 
error  is  connected,  and  is  made  in  the  proper  spirit ;  not  in  hatred, 
but  in  love ;  not  to  indulge  idle  curiosity,  but  for  instruction's  sake ; 
and  when  the  truth  is  put  where  the  error  stood,  and  offered  as  a 
substitute  for  it,  Protestantism  and  the  Scriptures  gain  thereby. 
This  is  the  characteristic  of  Protestantism,  arising  out  of  putting 
Scripture  above  the  Church.  When  there  is  confidence  in  truth 
there  will  be  boldness  in  this  matter — boldness,  not  rashness. 

"All  this  is  apologetical  for  exposing  a  doctrine  once  considered 
an  essential  of  Christianity,  and  still  so  considered  by  many.  This 
doctrine  is  the  glory  and  trust  of  the  priesthood;  the  object  of 
awe  and  reverence  to  the  multitude;  the  test  of  faith,  the  task- 
master of  reason.  It  is  held  to  with  tenacity  by  the  greatest 
power  the  world  ever  saw.  This  doctrine  I  consider  the  greatest 
absurdity  ever  palmed  on  creatures  called  rational;  especially 
because  it  is  held  by  those  who  pretend  to  argue  the  matter. 


414  MEMOIR    OF 

Gnosticism  had  its  errors  and  absurdities,  but  they  were  of  the 
imagination.  This  doctrine  is  of  men  who  pretend  to  reason  and 
philosophy.  Let  us,  then,  take  the  language  of  this  absurdity. 

"  First,  we  have  a  complete  change  of  the  whole  substance  of  the 
bread  into  the  substance  of  the  body  of  Christ,  that  of  the  wine 
into  that  of  the  blood — transubstantiation. 

"This  substance  thus  changed  into  another  substance,  ceases  to 
have  the  attributes  or  accidents  of  material  substances. 

"These  attributes  or  accidents  which  remain,  and  which,  to  the 
senses,  are,  apparently,  as  they  were  before  the  change,  are  accidents 
inhering  in  no  substance.* 

"Here,  then,  we  have  annihilation — substitution.  Nothing 
more  or  less.  Individual  existences  are  what  are. 

"  What  is  annihilated  seems  to  continue,  and  what  is  substituted 
does  not  appear.  So  all  the  senses  testify. 

"The  explanation  of  this  by  substance  and  accidents  is  incon- 
ceivable. 

"  If  the  bread  moulds,  there  is  reverse  action,  and  yet  no  evi- 
dence of  this.  "What  is  it  that  moulds,  accidents  or  substances? 
So  of  the  wine.  So,  if  before  this  the  elements  be  consumed  by  a 
dumb  animal,  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  are  eaten !  And  all 
this  in  the  face  of  the  record  of  the  first  Institution.  He  held  the 
bread  and  cup,  the  whole  substance  of  His  body  and  blood,  in  His 
hands." 

AEE  MEN  EESPONSIBLE  FOR  THEIR  OPINIONS  ? 

"  The  human  mind  a  pendulum,  would  swing  into  the  boundless 
void  unchecked  by  the  gravitating  power  of  the  good  providence 
of  God.  This  power  acts  by  laws  which  attach  evil  consequences 
to  extremes.  These  revolt  the  mind.  True  wisdom  usually 
consists  in  discovering  and  settling  in  the  centre.  '  Medio  tu- 
tissimus  ibis.'  God  hedges  up  our  way. 

"  This  propensity  to  extremes  is  manifest  in  the  history  of  our 
subject.  One  extreme  in  the  Romish  Church  not  only  considered 
certain  opinions  as  criminal,  but  punished  them  as  overt  acts.  This 
latter  was  the  consequence  which  led  to  the  reaction.  Two  things 
were  confounded.  Intolerance  acquired  a  being  and  a  name,  and 
that  an  infamous  one.  Intolerance  is  an  intolerable  evil.  How 

*See  Catechism  of  Trent,  39,  42,  43,  Questions. 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  415 

shall  it  be  avoided  ?  It  came  into  being  with  the  doctrine  that  we 
are  responsible  for  our  opinions.  Banish  the  latter,  and  the  former 
will  expatriate  itself. 

"  We  find  this  latter  doctrine  largely  sanctioned  at  the  present 
day.  Lord  Brougham,  Sir  J.  Macintosh,  passim.  'The  great  truth, 
so  pregnant  with  charity  toward  our  fellow-men,  that  belief  is  inde- 
pendent of  the  will,  was  not,  in  those  times,  dreamt  of  (the  times 
of  Cranmer;  Sir  T.  More,  etc). 

"  But,  first,  such  a  doctrine  is  not  necessary  to  accomplish  this 
object.  It  is  not  necessary  to  prove  that  opinions  are  not  moral,  in 
order  to  show  that  man  should  not  punish  his  fellow  for  them.  How 
is  it  with  regard  to  character  (not  put  forth  in  action)  ?  Do  we,  to 
prevent  men  visiting  one  another  with  pains  and  penalties  for  evil 
tempers,  impure  passions,  etc.,  maintain  that  they  have  no  moral  cha- 
racter ?  There  is  another  way  of  preventing  persecution  in  both  eases. 
This  idea,  moreover,  is  inconsistent  with  the  relations  between 
the  several  functions  of  the  mind.  It  is  inconsistent  with  the  rela- 
tion of  opinions  to  actions.  On  what  do  we  act  if  not  on  opinion? 
Brutes  do  not  act  on  opinion,  and  therefore  are  not  responsible. 
But  men  do  act  on  opinion,  and  therefore  are.  Unless  carried  away 
by  a  whirlwind  of  passion  (a  case  not  contemplated  here)  man 
always  acts  on  opinion.  It  may  be  good  or  bad,  right  or  wrong, 
still  it  is  opinion,  and  the  ground  of  action. 

"This  doctrine,  again,  is  contrary  to  the  common  sentiment  of  men. 
They  say  our  belief  is  according  to  our  wishes.  Now,  are  these 
wishes  or  desires  moral?  If  so,  they  involve  accountability.  If 
not,  what  does?  Desires  are  especially  moral  when  the  will  is 
determined  by  them;  and  is  it  not  then  that  opinion  is  formed? 
To  be  sure,  'video  meliora/  etc.  But  what  does  this  prove?  If 
he  had  not  this  opinion,  if  he  did  not  see,  then  '  had  he  been  without 
sin.'  But  he  does  see,  has  this  opinion,  and  therefore  purely  in  his 
relations  to  it  acts  rightly  or  wrongly.  Suppose  a  man  to  see  and 
approve  the  worse,  this  is  only  an  aggravation  of  his  guilt." 

"PROBABILITIES  AN  AID  TO  FAITH." 

"  In  this  borrowed  heading,  we  understand  by  faith  that  act  and 
state  of  mind,  as  the  intelligent  principle,  in  which  it  apprehends 
the  truths  pertaining  to  the  unseen  world.  So  using  the  term,  why 
should  we  not  speak  of  probabilities  as  an  aid  thereto  ?  Is  there 


416  MEMOIR    OF 

any  incompatibility  between  them  ?  May  not  the  latter  conduce  to 
the  former  ?  May  they  not  constitute  its  very  groundwork  and 
root?  Suppose  nothing  but  probabilities  in  the  case,  but  that 
they  preponderate  strongly  on  one  side;  then,  if  forced  by  the 
.exigencies  with  which  we  were  surrounded  to  come  to  a  conclusion 
in  regard  to  things  unseen  and  spiritual,  would  not  that  conclusion 
justly  be  called  faith?  Might  it  not  be  a  religious  act?  Might  it 
not  be  a  strong  persuasion  ?  Might  it  not  move  us  like  a  voice 
from  heaven  ? 

"  But  why  ask  these  questions  ?  "We  do  not  ask  them  because 
we  believe  there  is  any  ground  to  doubt  about  the  answer,  but  be- 
cause we  find  some,  in  the  new  school,  which  has  lately  risen  up 
among  us,  seeking  to  plant  faith  on  some  other  than  a  rational 
foundation.  One  of  the  wisest  philosophical  divines  has  pronounced 
'  probability  the  very  guide  of  life,'  and  argues  that  as  it  guides  us 
in  relation  to  this  life,  so  ought  it  in  relation  to  the  next.  And  he, 
and  almost  all  others  who  have  attempted  anything  in  logical 
science,  have  divided  all  the  evidence  which  comes  to  man,  of  truths 
not  intuitively  seen,  into  demonstrative  and  probable;  by  demon- 
strative understanding  that  proof  which  belongs  to  the  abstractions 
of  mathematics,  and  by  probable  understanding  that  which 
establishes  all  facts  not  naturally  known  to  man  by  original  sugges- 
tion, such  as  the  phenomena  of  the  physical  world,  the  events  of 
secular  history,  and  the  miracles  of  inspired  revelation.  These  all 
are  alike  supported  by  probable  evidence,  meaning  by  the  term 
probable,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  say,  not  any  uncertainty  in  point 
of  fact  or  deficiency  in  the  amount  of  proof,  but  only  that  it  is  not 
what  is  conventionally  and  technically  called  demonstrative. 

"  Now,  this  almost  universally  received  view  of  the  matter  is,  by 
some,  sought  to  be  set  aside.  They  would  substitute  a  blind  sub- 
mission to  human  authority,  or  acquiescence  in  the  doctrines  of 
some  official  personage*  They  think  it  dangerous  to  encourage  the 
common  view,  as  it  may  foster  self-sufficiency  in  man.  If  man  is 
left  to  look  for  evidence  aside  from  known  authority,  and  to  exer- 
cise his  own  private  judgment  upon  the  subjects  for  which  his  cre- 
dence is  challenged,  'he  will  become/  it  has  been  said,  'arrogant 
and  vain.  His  foolish  heart  will  become  darkened  by  pride,  and 
he  will  adopt  error  just  to  show  his  independence  of  evidence,  rea- 
son, and  truth.'  In  the  same  spirit,  those  who  take  this  view 
judge  it  wise  to  encourage  the  people  to  submit  entirely  for  instruction 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,  D.  D.  417 

to  him  whose  lips  keep  knowledge  professionally,  dissuade  them 
from  searching  the  Scriptures  to  see  if  the  things  which  they  hear 
from  their  teachers  be  so.  Instead  of  being  desirous  for  the  wider 
diffusion  of  knowledge,  they  are  half  disposed  to  think  with  the 
poet  that '  a  little  learning  is  a  dangerous  thing.'  On  the  whole,  they 
manifestly  feel  that,  as  we  have  lawyers  and  physicians  to  take 
care  of  our  health  and  property,  so  have  we  clergymen  to  take 
care  of  our  souls;  and  that,  as  their  callings  are  all  three  alike 
'arts  and  mysteries,'  our  wisest  course  is  to  conduct  ourselves,  in 
regard  to  them,  pretty  much  in  the  same  way — to  lie  passively  in 
their  hands,  afraid  that,  in  attempting  to  mend,  we  may  only  mar." 


DAILY  SERVICE. 

"In  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  there  are  several  days  set 
apart  for  the  commemoration,  not  only  of  the  prominent  events  in 
the  work  of  man's  redemption,  but  also  of  the  holy  lives  and  glo- 
rious deaths  of  many  of  the  more  eminent  saints  mentioned  in  the 
New  Testament.  For  each  of  these  days,  also,  there  is  appointed 
a  service  adapted,  in  the  matter  or  the  spirit  of  it,  to  the  history  or 
character  of  the  Apostle  or  Evangelist  after  whom  the  day  is 
called.  It  would  seem  that  this  part  of  our  Prayer-book  was  espe- 
cially designed  for  the  cathedrals,  where  provision  is  made  for 
daily  service.  At  all  events,  no  general  and  long-continued  attempt 
has  ever  been  made  to  observe  all  these  days,  much  less  to  have  the 
Morning  and  Evening  Prayer  read  in  all  the  churches.  When 
there  is  any  special  event  calling  for  a  week-day  service,  respect 
is  had  to  the  Collect,  Gospel,  and  Epistle  for  the  occasion,  if  there 
be  such;  but  beyond  this,  our  own  Church,  or  the  mother  Church 
of  England,  has  never  gone. 

"At  the  present  day,  however,  a  great  effort  is  making  to  intro- 
duce a  daily  public  service,  and  especially  the  observance  of  saints' 
days,  into  some  of  the  churches  here  and  in  England. 

"  Now,  God  forbid  that  we  should  check  any  disposition  in  any 
one  to  resort  to  the  house  of  God  morning  and  evening,  if  it  is 
open  to  him,  and  his  circumstances  are  such  as  to  allow  him  to 
attend.  But  it  ought  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  there  is  an  '  Eccle- 
siastical '  as  well  as  a  '  Political  Economy,'  and  that  as  industry,  to 
produce  its  proper  effects,,  must  be  rightly  directed,  so  must  reli- 
27 


418  MEMOIR    OF 

gious  zeal.  The  question  is  not  whether  it  is  right  or  wrong  to  go 
to  the  house  of  God  to  worship,  but  whether,  under  the  existing 
circumstances  of  the  Church  and  the  world,  it  is  expedient  for  the 
minister  to  take  upon  him  this  peculiar  mode  and  amount  of  duty, 
and  for  the  people  to  be  called  on  to  worship,  not  so  often,  but  so 
often  in  that  particular  place.  We  confess  we  have  no  confidence 
in  the  measures  now  proposed  by  some,  who  are  so  zealous  for  daily 
services  in  the  Church,  or  for  honoring  the  saints  by  signalizing 
every  day  called  after  their  names  by  public  worship.  It  is  in 
vain  that  the  ordinary  mode  of  dating  the  advertisement  of  a 
printed  sermon,  or  a  communication  to  a  daily  journal,  or  the  pre- 
face of  a  book,  is  abandoned,  and  that  the  work  is  consummated 
and  put  under  the  patronage  of  some  saint,  by  being  brought  out 
on  the  day  devoted  to  his  memory,  or  on  its  eve  or  vigil.  In  vain, 
too,  is  the  'sacramental  character'  of  sacred  vestments  and  conse- 
crated edifices  urged  as  a  reason  why  men  should  worship  God  in 
the  church,  rather  than  the  closet,  or  at  the  family  altar,  every 
morning  and  evening.  It  will  be  found  impracticable  in  the  issue, 
and  injurious  in  the  attempt.  Several  reasons  might  be  assigned 
for  thinking  it  an  injudicious  and  pernicious  measure.  "We  men- 
tion one  or  two : — 

"  1.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  an  arrangement  for  the  benefit  of  the 
few,  not  the  many.  Those  in  more  comfortable  circumstances,  with 
time  at  their  command,  and  every  other  means  necessary  for  appear- 
ing in  public  twice  a  day,  may  take  advantage  of  these  frequent  ser- 
vices in  the  church ;  but  the  more  limited  in  their  living  and  their 
leisure,  especially  servants,  must  ordinarily  stay  at  home.  As 
society  is  now  constituted,  therefore,  the  advantage  is  for  the  advan- 
tage of  the  rich,  not  the  poor ;  for  the  few,  not  the  many. 

"  2.  Besides,  must  it  not  be  a  positive  loss  to  poor  employees  to 
be  separated  from  their  masters  and  mistresses  in  their  religious 
exercises  ?  Are  not  the  latter  less  likely,  in  consequence,  to  take 
a  spiritual  interest  in  them,  and  to  feel  their  obligation  to  attend 
to  their  religious  instruction  under  such  circumstances  ? 

"  3.  Is  not  the  direct  tendency  of  the  practice,  so  far  as  it  may 
prevail,  to  interfere  with  family  worship  and  religion,  and  with  the 
religious  training  of  the  rising  generation  ?  At  family  prayer, 
scarce  any  one  need  be  absent ;  not  only  the  servants,  but  every 
child  over  twenty  months  old,  may,  at  all  seasons  of  the  year, 
attend ;  but  at  public  prayers,  not  only  must  servants  be  separated 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,    D.  D.  419 

from  their  masters,  but  parents  must  also  be  separated  from  their 
children.     The  little  ones  cannot  generally  attend. 

"4.  Again,  must  not  the  introduction  of  daily  public  worship 
interfere,  especially  in  the  cases  of  persons  who  have  to  '  labor  to  get 
their  own  living/  with  family  worship  altogether?  The  prayer  of 
the  closet  stands  first  in  the  obligation ;  next,  except  on  the  days 
in  which  inspiration  has  required  that  we  assemble  ourselves 
together  in  the  great  congregation,  conies  family  worship;  and 
last  stands  the  proposed  daily  morning  and  evening  prayer." 


EFFECT   OF   EXTKAVAGANT    NOTIONS    OF    BAPTISM 
UPON  THEOLOGICAL  OPINION  GENEEALLY. 

"1.  If  it  is  regeneration  in  any  other  than  an  external  sense,  it 
is  made  necessary  to  salvation,  even  in  regard  to  infants ;  and,  if  so 
regarded,  why  should  any  one  balk  at  the  imputation  of  Adam's 
sin,  and  1  he  condemnation  of  men  for  it  alone  ? 

"  2.  These  extravagant  notions  caused  it,  at  one  time,  to  be  post- 
poned till  late  in  life. 

"  3.  It  also  led  to  Lay  Baptism. 

"4.  It  also  occasioned  the  hypothesis  of  a  limbus  infantum. 

"5.  Also  the  doctrine  of  the  damnation  of  the  most  virtuous 
heathen,  or  else  that  they  are  baptized  in  another  world,  in  order 
to  salvation. 

"6.  Though  designed  to  make  the  sacraments  very  sacred,  it 
leads  to  their  profanation. 

"7.  The  Jews  magnified  circumcision  unduly,  and  the  effects 
were  seen,  not  in  their  view  of  one  another,  for  it  was  a  national 
rite,  but  of  the  neighboring  nations." 

CONVERSATION. 

"  1.  Talk  of  things  and  events,  rather  than  of  persons,  and  of  the 
departed  rather  than  the  living. 

"2.  Make  others  talk  rather  than  talk  yourself. 

"  3.  If  you  talk,  let  it  be  conversation  or  colloquy,  rather  than 
discourse.  Be  sure  your  neighbor  has  his  full  share. 

"4.  Talk  with  others  to  get  knowledge  rather  than  to  show  it. 

"  5.  If  you  are  compelled  to  talk  of  little  matters,  do  not  dwell 


420  MEMOIR    OP 

upon  them.  The  bee's  visit  to  each  flower  is  short,  though  it  might 
tarry  long  at  a  plate  of  honey. 

"6.  Avoid  a  habit  of  objecting.  To  assent  to  everything  is  in- 
sincere ;  to  dispute  everything  is  offensive.  In  most  cases,  neither 
is  at  all  necessary.  We  can  almost  always  find  some  point  of  agree- 
ment ;  we  are  seldom  under  the  necessity  of  disputation.  We  may 
let  most  things  to  which  we  do  not  assent  pass  in  silence ;  and  this 
silence  will  often  have  more  effect  than  refutation. 

"  7.  Before  you  speak  be  sure  you  have  something  to  say.  This 
precept  holds  good  even  in  little  things.  In  little  things,  folks  get 
into  a  way  of  talking  at  random,  which,  indulged  in,  must  detract 
from  their  reputation  for  judgment,  and  even  for  strict  truthfulness. 
Nervous  persons  are  liable  to  this,  and  may  aggravate  it  by  indulg- 
ence, till  it  becomes  a  mental  disease,  called  light-headedness. 

"  8.  We  may  avoid  dogmatism  and  controversy,  often,  by  simply 
asking  questions,  and  seeking  for  the  opinions  of  others,  which 
opinions  may  be  received  in  silence.  It  is  not  necessary  to  give 
an  opinion  upon  every  other  opinion. 

"  9.  Remember  you  are  not  under  obligation  to  know  everything. 
You  may  expect  to  be  ignorant  of  many,  very  many  things,  of 
which  others  are  not  so  ignorant ;  and  you  need  not  attempt  to 
hide  your  ignorance,  or  to  make  a  show  of  knowledge  where  you 
have  none — filling  your  library,  as  it  were,  with  '  wooden  Elzevirs.' " 

"CONTRAST   BETWEEN   UNITARIANISM  AND 
ROMANISM." 

" Unitarianism  for  the  learned;  Romanism  for  the  ignorant. 
Unitarianism,  minimi  fidian,  rejecting  mysteries ;  Romanism,  max- 
imi  fidian,  believing  contradictions.  Unitarianism  is  moral  in 
its  aims  and  efforts;  Romanism  is  ceremonious  and  devout. 
Unitarianism  is  skeptical;  Romanism  is  superstitious.  Unitarian- 
ism exalts  the  people;  Romanism,  the  clergy.  Unitarianism  rejects 
all  authority,  and  would  make  a  little  child  suspicious  and  jealous 
of  the  power  and  influence  of  its  parent ;  Romanism  makes  human 
authority  divine,  and  would  teach  kings  it  was  a  fitting  employ- 
ment to  be  broidering  petticoats  for  images  of  the  Virgin  Mary. 
Unitarianism  would  make  man  over-confident,  and  induce  him  to 
feel  self-sufficient  in  securing  his  soul's  salvation;  Romanism 
would  not  only  refer  man  to  a  Saviour,  but  to  his  fellow-men  in  the 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,   D.  D.  421 

character  of  priests,  and  make  him  not  so  much  the  humble 
servant  of  God  as  the  abject  slave  of  His  creature.  Unitarianism 
seeks  the  promotion  of  education  and  the  enlightenment  of  society, 
so  ever  committing  suicide ;  Komanism  would  exclude  knowledge, 
and  so  build  up  its  own  authority,  till  that  becomes  so  grinding 
and  intolerable  as  to  occasion  a  revolt  in  human  nature.  All  evil 
and  error  in  society  is  ultimately  suicidal ;  that  of  Unitarianism 
more  immediately  so  than  Komanism." 

"OUT  OF  THE  CHURCH  NO  SALVATION." 

"This  maxim  is  a  potent  weapon  for  good  or  evil.  Eightly 
understood,  it  embodies  a  truth  which,  the  more  explicitly  it  is 
promulgated  and  enforced,  advances  the  more  the  glory  of  Christ 
and  the  salvation  of  men.  So  interpreted,  it  turns  men  from  the 
shadow  to  the  substance,  from  the  judging  of  others  to  the  exami- 
nation of  themselves,  from  reliance  upon  man  to  trust,  exclusive 
trust,  in  God,  through  Christ.  It  enlarges  rather  than  contracts, 
elevates  rather  than  degrades.  It  enables  a  man  to  feel  that  he 
breathes  the  spirit  of  that  religion  which  is  from  above,  which  is 
comprehensive,  which  is  internal,  which  is  real ;  that  he  serves  that 
God,  who,  by  revelation,  more  than  by  the  wonders  of  nature  or  the 
gifts  of  Providence,  proves  that  His  mercy  is  over  all  His  works, 
and  that  '  in  every  nation  he  that  feareth  God  and  worketh  right- 
eousness is  accepted  of  Him.'  With  such  views  one  can  rejoice 
before  God,  through  Christ,  on  his  own  account  and  on  account  of 
his  fellow-creatures.  They  bring  him  and  them  directly  to  God, 
and  make  communion  with  God  dependent  directly  and  indispensa- 
bly upon  nothing  created  or  which  a  creature  can  control.  It 
supposes  God's  laws  to  be  administered  by  men,  but  not  as  the  civil 
laws  are  administered.  So  far  as  the  office  holder  is  concerned, 
nothing  is  absolute  and  definitive.  They  may  acquit  where  the 
Supreme  Power  condemns;  they  may  condemn  where  the  Supreme 
Power  acquits;  their  authority  may  be  recognized,  and  yet  no 
favor  come  from  the  source  of  that  authority ;  and  their  authority 
may  be  mistakingly  resisted,  and  yet  the  condemnation  of  God  not 
finally  follow.  It  supposes  human  agencies  to  be  very  needful,  and 
particular  forms  of  them  very  desirable ;  but  that  God  reserves  to 
Himself  the  power  and  privilege  of  recognizing  souls,  everywhere 
and  under  all  circumstances,  that  truly  look  to  Him.  It  teaches 


422  MEMOIR    OP 

men  to  inquire,  not  whether  they  are  children  of  Abraham  by  lineal 
descent,  but  whether  they  have  the  faith  of  Abraham,  and  to 
regard  this  first,  and  look  upon  everything  else  only  as  the  out- 
ward exhibition  of  this  inward  principle.  It  teaches  us,  in  short, 
in  the  arrangement  of  our  principles,  and  in  our  judgment  of  men 
and  things,  to  observe  the  great  law  of  Proportion.  All  this  comes 
of  understanding  the  maxim,  'Extra  ecclesiam  nulla  salus,'  as 
having  reference  to  that  body  which  Christ  controls  by  His  Spirit, 
and  which  is,  consequently,  composed  of  'all  who  love  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity.' 

"But,  to  suppose  it  has  reference  to  some  particular  Ecclesiastical 
organization ;  and  to  repeat  that  article  in  the  Creed,  the  '  Holy 
Catholic  Church,'  on  every  Sabbath-day,  and  to  teach  it  to  our 
children  with  that  understanding!.  Oh,  what  a  sad  perversion; 
how  opposed  to  the  genius  of  our  holy  religion,  how  belittling  to 
the  soul,  how  hardening  to  the  heart,  how  calculated  to  exalt  man 
and  degrade  Christ  the  Saviour!  It  must  pervert  the  judgment  in 
reference  to  ourselves  and  to  others.  It  must  lead  us  to  estimate 
others  by  their  ecclesiastical  connection  rather  than  the  soundness 
of  their  doctrine  and  the  holiness  of  their  lives ;  and  must  cause  us 
to  suppose  that  God  has  suspended  the  eternal  destinies  of  man 
upon  things  positive  and  contingent,  rather  than  things  essential, 
and  moral,  and  spiritual.  And  in  reference  to  ourselves,  it  must 
foster  one  of  the  worst  forms  of  self-righteousness.  On  each  repe- 
tition of  the  Creed  we  virtually  congratulate  ourselves  that  we  are 
of  the  corporation  to  which  salvation  exclusively  belongs;  so 
exclusively,  that  all  without  which  wears  the  appearance  of  heaven- 
inspired  virtue  is  to  be  considered  suspicious,  if  not  positively 
mischievous." 

"CLOSE  OF  THE  TERM." 

"SADNESS  CONNECTED  WITH  THE  THOUGHT  OF  SEPARATION." 

"  Two  travelers  when  they  part.  Two  ships  when  they  part  after 
sailing  in  company.  Two  ships  when  they  speak  and  part. 

"We  have  been  together  one,  two,  three  years.  Some  shall 
never  meet  in  the  same  relation.  This  is  a  time  of  sad  feelings,  of 
serious  reflection.  Life  is  a  journey. 

"  1.  So  to  all.     All  men  live,  and  '  It  is  appointed  unto  all  men 


WILLIAM    SPAR  BOW,   D.  D.  423 

to  die.'  Cradle  and  grave.  Short,  long,  cheerful,  afflicted,  conspicu- 
ous, obscure,  but  to  all  a  journey. 

"2.  Difference  between  men  of  the  world  and  Christians  this: 
they  are  journeying  unconsciously,  Christians  consciously. 

"a.  The  world  floats  on  a  tide  of  which  they  are  heedless.  They 
are  occupied  with  the  present  only.  Dum  vivimus  vivamus  ? 
They  are  as  men  that  dream.  They  are  as  men  out  of  their  right 
mind.  When  the  journey  is  ended  they  come  to  themselves,  they 
awake. 

"  b.  Christians  have  so  done.  But  they  now  realize  what  life  is ; 
'  What  shadows  we  are,  and  what  shadows  we  pursue.'  This  influ- 
ences their  whole  nature.  They  see  and  feel  this  to  be  a  transition 
state. 

"3.  This  moderates  all  minor  considerations.  By  fixing  the 
mind  intently  on  the  end,  the  things  by  the  way  please  but  moder- 
ately. '  Let  your  moderation  be  known  unto  all  men.'  '  Be  careful 
for  nothing.' 

"  a.  It  moderates  expectations  of  happiness.  Such  a  state  cannot 
be  expected  to  afford  more  than  foretastes,  slight  antepasts. 
Enjoyment,  even  in  ministerial  work,  should  not  be  counted  on  too 
sanguinely.  The  principle  of  happiness  there  is  the  principle  of 
happiness  everywhere.  If  not  happy  as  Christian  students,  why 
happy  as  Christian  ministers? 

"b.  Moderates  fears,  also,  in  regard  to  trials  and  afflictions. 
They  are  only  disagreeable  incidents  by  the  way.  They  will  soon 
be  over,  and  only  a  subject  of  recollection  as  perils  escaped.  So  a 
foil  to  happiness  hereafter.  More  than  that,  they  may  be  used 
somewhat  in  that  way  even  here.  If  we  are  pilgrims,  our  afflictions 
are  marks  of  sonship  and  adoption.  Nay,  more,  they  may  '  work 
out  for  us  a  far  more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory.' 
How?  'Tribulation  worketh  patience,  and  patience  experience, 
and  experience  hope.'  If  we  find  difficulty  in  viewing  things  thus, 
it  only  shows  that  we  still  linger,  in  heart,  in  Egypt. 

"4.  I  began  with  sadness,  let  us  end  with  cheerfulness." 

"PEOBATION  AND  SPEECH." 

"  Candidates  were  at  first  promptly  admitted  to  the  Church. 

"  Afterward  they  had  a  long  probation. 

"  The  reasons  of  the  change  various.     Chief  one,  that  the  candi- 


424  MEMOIR    OF 

date  might  know  himself  and  be  known  of  others,  so  that  the 
Church  should  not  suffer. 

"The  Church  has  suffered  from  indiscriminate  admissions. 

"This  example  in  regard  to  candidates  for  baptism  too  often 
followed  in  regard  to  those  for  the  ministry. 

"Probation  with  these  even  more  needful.  Less  so,  perhaps,  in 
former  times;  more  so  now.  Private  Christians  escaped  when  min- 
isters were  slain.  The  sharpshooters  of  persecution  picked  out  the 
leaders.  Now,  the  leaders  have  as  little  danger  and  more  honor. 

"Accordingly,  the  Church  has  appointed  candidateship  of  three 
years. 

"1.  She  would  know  those  to  whom  she  confides  so  much. 

"  2.  She  would  let  them  know  themselves. 

"3.  She  would  give  them  time  to  mature. 

"  This  last  view  not  sufficiently  considered.  The  impatience  of 
youth  causes  it  to  be  overlooked.  It  is  regarded  as  a  curriculum 
to  be  passed  through  indeed,  but  as  soon  as  possible.  Kather  a 
season  of  the  year,  not  Autumn  or  Winter,  but  Spring  and  Summer, 
the  growing  season;  season,  if  not  improved  for  growing  purposes, 
leaves  an  irreparable  loss  behind. 

"  It  is  our  business  to  see  that  we  are  maturing.  Oh,  what 
maturity  necessary  here !  Who  sufficient  for  these  things  ?  Let 
raw  recruits  go  into  battle ;  if  through  the  want  of  experience  they 
perish,  they  shall  revive  again.  The  valley  of  dry  bones  shall  be 
quickened.  The  whited  battle-field  shall  give  up  its  dead.  Let 
the  young  physician,  if  it  must  be,  tamper  with  the  health  and  lives 
of  men.  Neither  health  nor  life  can  last  forever.  Though  one  be 
cut  down  before  his  time,  he  will  revive  again,  and  may  revive  in  im- 
mortal youth.  Oh,  what  a  solemn  and  delicate  thing  to  minister  to 
souls  diseased !  What  thorough  understanding  of  the  heavenly  science, 
and  what  skill  in  its  application.  What  experimental  knowledge 
of  its  power.  If  we  had  due  sense  of  the  importance  of  the  work 
and  our  deficiency,  how  slow  should  we  be  in  entering  on  its  responsi- 
bilities. How  anxious  to  improve  every  moment.  And  when  we 
come  to  the  end  of  our  novitiate,  we  should  proceed  only  constrained 
by  the  love  of  Christ,  and  the  authority  of  Christian  friends.  Nolo 
Episcopari  would  not  be  a  piece  of  affectation. 

"Brethren,  are  we  maturing? 

"  Different  ways  of  answering  this  question : — 

"  1.  Look  directly  in  our  hearts. 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.   D.  425 

"2.  Look  at  our  actions. 

"  3.  Look  at  our  words.  This,  of  outward  means,  the  most  im- 
portant. Out  of  the  abundance  of  the  heart  we  act,  much  more 
speak.  Speech  the  drapery  of  thought.  Easier  to  speak  as  we 
think  than  otherwise.  Hypocrisy  is  constraint.  Speaking  or 
forbearing,  from  mere  duty,  or  regard  to  appearances,  is  constraint. 
What  we  say  spontaneously,  a  clear  indication.  '  By  thy  words 
ahalt  thou  be  justified.'  Once  I  thought  this  strange." 

"SHOULD  A  MINISTER  PREACH  BEYOND  HIS  EXPE- 
RIENCE?" 

"The  Bible,  remarkable  for  its  truthfulness,  says  more  about  it, 
and  makes  more  of  it,  than  any  other  book.  It  calls  religion  truth ; 
God,  the  God  of  truth;  Christ,  the  Truth;  the  Spirit,  the  Spirit  of 
truth;  disciples,  children  of  truth.  It  condemns  all  falsehood  and 
lying ;  makes  the  confession  of  truth  a  duty.  Men  must  lay  down 
their  lives  for  it.  It  has  actually  had  more  witnesses,  under  trying 
circumstances,  to  truth,  martyrs,  than  any  other  book  or  religion. 
In  contrast  to  all  this,  too,  and  making  it  stronger  from  such  con- 
trast, Satan  is  the  father  of  lies. 

"  It  sets  high  value  on  truth  objective.  Calls  on  men  to  seek  it, 
to  buy  it,  to  take  heed  they  fail  not  of  it ;  not  to  turn  from  it,  to 
love  it,  not  to  fail  to  follow  after  it. 

"Much  more  does  it  set  a  value  upon  subjective  truth,  that  is, 
an  honest  search  of  it  and  use  of  it.  Truth  in  the  head  is 
immensely  valuable,  and  it  has  a  very  important  connection  with 
truth  in  the  heart;  still,  they  are  not  always  equal  or  parallel,  and, 
of  the  two,  decidedly  the  most  important  is  truth  in  the  heart.  A 
truthful  purpose  is  better  than  the  best  arranged  system ;  an  honest 
desire  to  know  the  truth,  than  an  actual  knowledge.  Yes,  it  puts 
the  highest  value  on  true,  honest  persuasion,  in  one's  own  mind ; 
not  professing  more  than  we  do  believe  for  any  motive  whatsoever, 
not  withholding  our  own  sincere  conviction.  Both  are  alike  in 
divergence  from  that  straight  line,  truth  in  heart  and  conduct, 
which,  in  the  sight  of  God,  is  of  great  price.  It  is  not  enough  that 
we  speak  the  truth;  we  must  speak  it  in  truthfulness  of  soul,  even 
as  we  must  speak  it  in  love. 

"  When  I  think  of  the  vast  deal  to  be  found  in  the  Bible  in  this 
strain,  and  reflect  how  much  want  of  truth,  objective  and  sub- 


426  MEMOIR    OF 

jective,  there  is  among  Christians  who  adopt  the  Bible,  I  am  led  to 
ask  how  must  it  have  been  and  be  when  this  book  does  not  pre- 
vail and  preside  over  the  mental  operations  of  men.  If  there  is 
anything  the  Book  is  emphatic  about,  it  is  this ;  and  if  there  is  any 
sin  to  which  human  nature,  owing  to  its  extreme  facility,  is  given, 
more  than  another,  it  is  this  of  its  opposite. 

"As  an  evidence  of  the  power  of  the  Bible  to  foster  a  truthful 
spirit,  I  would  mention  a  question  which  Christian  ministers  have 
been  led  to  make :  Whether  they  should  preach  beyond  their  indi- 
vidual experience?  This  question  would  never  be  mooted  where 
men  did  not  feel  that  God  required  truth  in  the  inward  parts ;  that 
we  have  to  do  with  God,  and  that  He  looketh  on  the  heart,  and 
will  require  of  us  the  strictest  and  most  transparent  honesty." 

TEMPTATION  OP  CHRIST. 

"  Our  relations  to  God  are  twofold,  personal  and  mundane. 

"  The  first  is  through  our  individual  unity.  This  personality  the 
most  perfect  unity.  How  perfect?  So  that  one  may  ascend  to 
heaven,  another  go  down  to  hell.  How  fearful.  Though  human, 
compatriotic,  of  the  same  family,  yet  this  also  may  be.  More  than  a 
distinction,  a  separation,  as  complete  as  between  light  and  darkness, 
holiness  and  sin,  and  made  by  that  gulf  which  lies  between. 

"  This,  then,  the  prime  relation  invariably  found  in  moral  agents, 
has  reference  to  eternity,  and  involves  eternal  responsibility. 

"The  second  is  that  which  belongs  to  us  in  common  with  the 
race.  This  through  Adam.  It  is  not,  like  the  other,  connected 
with  acts ;  is  prior  to  all  deeds  done  in  the  body,  is  involuntary, 
unconditional.  We  are  born  in  the  consequences  of  this  relation, 
those  of  mortality  and  corruption. 

"  In  this  last  we  differ  from  angels.  They  were  each  one  made, 
as  Adam,  in  innocence  and  freedom.  Each  one  bore  his  own 
burden  only.  Our  Father  ate  sour  grapes  and  our  teeth  are  set 
on  edge.  It  might  seem  as  if  mankind  had  a  less  share  of  God's 
mercy  than  angels.  If  it  were  so,  God  might  do  what  He  vr ill  with 
His  own.  But  is  it  so?  One  thing  is  very  observable:  if  we  have 
a  first,  so  we  have  a  second  Adam.  If  sin  hath  abounded,  grace  hath 
much  more  abounded.  But  our  connection  with  the  first  is  prior 
to  our  own  act,  with  the  second  through  it,  and  that  act  is  faith. 

"Moreover,  this  connection  is  proportioned  to  the  intelligence 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  427 

and  heartiness  of  faith.  And  the  central  object  of  faith  is  Christ, 
from  birth  to  death,  advent,  incarnation  to  ascension;  yea,  from  the 
fall  to  the  end  of  all  things. 

"Temptation  one  part  of  His  course,  and  an  interesting  subject  of 
inquiry.  We  confine  ourselves  to  the  question  why  it  was.  Various 
answers  made,  displaying  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  God. 

"  1.  General  answer.  Why  did  Christ  come  in  the  flesh  ?  As 
He  was  born,  and  grew,  and  labored,  and  hungered  and  thirsted, 
and  felt  weariness  and  pain,  so  was  He  tempted.  It  belongs  to 
humanity.  He  suffered  for  men  as  they  do  for  one  another.  Why 
not  for  evil  spirits?  'It  behooved  Him  in  all  things  to  be  made 
like  unto  His  brethren.'  This,  then,  might  suffice.  This  is  part  of 
a  scheme;  and  if  we  ask  the  why  of  that  scheme,  we  answer, 
'Even  so,  Father,  for  so  it  seemed  good  in  Thy  sight.'  Not 
sovereignty  alone:  mercy  and  goodness.  In  such  a  scheme,  not 
every  tittle  intelligible ;  enough  that  it  is  so  as  a  whole. 

"2.  More  particularly.  We  have  here  an  example  of  holiness, 
hatred  of  sin,  and  resistance  to  it.  The  importance  of  this  example 
not  realized,  because  we  have  always  had  it,  and  we  have  others 
also.  But  others  are  only  the  sequel  of  this,  and  would  not  have 
been  without  it.  This  is  the  significant  figure,  these  are  the 
cyphers.  Eeligious  biography  is  a  library.  These  worthies  shine 
with  a  borrowed  light.  So  of  living  saints.  If  we  profit  by  them, 
it  is  because  they  profit  by  Him.  Suppose  that  this  primary  exam- 
ple, and  all  these  secondary  examples,  were  withdrawn,  and  we 
were  left  to  abstract  truths.  Our  moral  atmosphere  might  be 
clear,  but  it  would  be  cold.  We  should  feel  that  our  helps  were 
fewer  and  less  effectual.  But  here  we  have  a  peculiar  advantage, 
the  perfection  of  God  in  the  form  of  humanity.  God  manifest  in 
the  flesh,  in  fallen  humanity.  The  best  example  in  the  best  form. 
How  different  the  verbal  descriptions  of  science  from  reality.  So 
here. 

"  3.  Example  which  assures  us  of  sympathy  in  our  temptations. 
'He  was  in  all  points  tempted  like  as  we  are.'  'Having  suffered, 
being  tempted,  He  is  able  to  succor  them  that  are  tempted.' 
Though  God,  and  as  such  impassible,  though  in  heaven,  and  not 
likely  to  sympathize  with  earth,  we  have  a  feeling  High  Priest. 
On  earth  He  showed  this.  The  command  to  watch,  the  apology 
'the  spirit  is  willing;'  'Satan  hath  desired  to  have  thee,  but  I  have 


428  MEMOIR    OP 

prayed  for  thee;'  the  assurance  of  this,  or  sympathy  like  this,  every 
one  has  who  resists  the  devil. 

"4.  Eedounds  to  the  glory  of  God,  and  comfort  of  men,  as  a 
triumph  over  Satan.  In  making  free  agents  He  made  it  possible 
for  evil  men  to  obtain  an  apparent  temporary  triumph.  So  with 
Satan — first  parents— every  sinner.  '  Tush,  God  doth  not  regard.' 
'  Where  is  the  promise  of  His  coming  ? '  But  such  triumph  and 
exemption  are  only  temporary.  God  owes  it  to  Himself  not  to 
grant  final  impunity.  Men's  sins  do  find  them  out.  Angels'  also. 
The  reprisals  fearful.  This  defeat  a  signal  one.  Ever  after  the 
spirits  stood  in  terror.  'Art  thou  come  hither  to  torment  us  before 
our  time?'  And,  though  they  attempted  to  renew  the  conflict, 
Jesus  saw  Satan  as  lightning  fall  from  heaven.  Here  Satan 
was  foiled.  He  felt  it.  It  was  known  to  him  and  his  legions,  and 
to  the  angels  who  kept  them  in  check.  If  he  once  triumphed 
over  man,  man  now  triumphs  over  him. 

"5.  He  shows,  too,  that  man  need  not  have  fallen,  and  that  when 
he  fell,  it  was  because  he  let  go  his  hold  of  God. 

"6.  Meant  to  prove  the  perfect  sinlessness  of  Christ.  He  came 
in  personal  conflict : — in  a  desert  place — no  human  countenance — 
suffering  from  hunger  and  lassitude.  Satan  had  tempted  Adam 
successfully.  Perhaps  angels  also.  The  odds  fearful  But  though 
Satan  thus  came,  he  found  nothing  in  Him.  He  must  have  gone 
away  acknowledging,  like  Pilate,  '  I  find  no  fault  in  Him.'  Yea, 
like  the  centurion  at  the  cross,  'truly  this  is  the  Son  of  God.'  It 
was  a  proof,  then,  that  Christ  was  fit  to  be  a  lamb  of  sacrifice;  and, 
like  all  resisted  temptation,  it  confirmed  Him  in  holiness. 

"7.  Meant  to  make  Him  perfect  through  suffering.  'He  was 
wounded  for  our  transgressions;'  but  not  on  Calvary  alone,  or 
Gethsemane,  or  the  Judgment  Hall.  He  bore  His  cross  every- 
where. His  life  one  of  vicarious  suffering.  And  what  His  great- 
est suffering?  His  temptation.  He  had  to  taste  of  every  cup. 
This  the  bitterest.  We  may  not  feel  it.  One  who  is  but  little  jeal- 
ous of  God's  honor,  and  has  but  a  slight  loathing  of  sin,  will  not 
understand  this.  Like  everything  else  pertaining  to  Christ  and 
His  religion,  it  is  unintelligible  when  religion  is  low  in  our  hearts. 
So  far  as  temptation  dishonors  God,  cannot  we  understand  it?  We 
feel  when  we  ourselves  are  dishonored.  How  much  more  when 
a  friend  is  insulted?  It  is  a  dagger  to  one's  own  heart.  On  this 
account,  and  because  of  the  intrinsic  nature  of  sin,  good  men  have 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,    D.  D.  429 

always  been  made  miserable  by  temptation  in  themselves  and 
transgressions  in  others.  'Rivers  of  water/  says  David,  'run  down 
mine  eyes,  because  men  do  not  obey  Thy  law.'  'Who/  exclaims 
St.  Paul,  in  the  character  of  a  Christian,  or  anxious  inquirer, 
'  who  shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death  ? '  Halybur- 
ton  seems  to  have  suffered  a  long  martyrdom  from  that  cause. 
Legh  Richmond's  last  days  were  visited  by  a  peculiar  temptation. 
So  Thomas  Scott's.  When  Christ  said, '  Get  thee  behind  me/  it  may 
be  considered  an  expression  of  holy  indignation  and  shuddering 
abhorrence.  How  must  He  have  been  shocked  at  the  temptation ! 
How  would  we  feel,  standing  in  the  temple  of  Juggernaut,  and  see- 
ing fellow-mortals,  rational  creatures,  fall  down  before  the  idol,  and 
to  be  tempted  to  unite  with  them !  We,  owing  to  our  dim  appre- 
hensions and  slight  emotions,  may  only  see  it  to  be  unreasonable ; 
but  it  revolted  His  feelings,  lacerated  His  heart.  To  such  suffering 
He  was  exposed  all  through  life,  but  on  this  occasion,  and  at  the 
last,  it  was  specially  severe.  It  suggested,  in  part,  that  mournful 
confession :  '  My  soul  is  exceeding  sorrowful,  even  unto  death.' " 

THE  TEMPTATION. 

" '  Christ  tempted  of  the  devil.'  This  is  a  great  truth  not  suffi- 
ciently considered.  It  might  have  been  kept  back,  and  yet  the  busi- 
ness of  life,  temporal  and  spiritual,  be  carried  on.  The  temptations 
of  Satan  do  not  interfere  with  the  laws  of  nature,  any  more  than  do 
the  temptations  of  men.  His  agency  is  like  the  miasma  which  pro- 
duces death.  It  is  unseen,  yet  real ;  not  miraculous,  yet  fatal.  So, 
again,  we  might  have  been  armed  against  him  without  knowing  of 
his  existence,  even  as  the  power  of  God  might  shield  us  against  nat- 
ural disease  without  any  agency  of  our  own,  leaving  us  alike  ignorant 
of  our  danger  and  of  our  deliverance.  God  has  not  so  acted.  He 
has  been  pleased  to  let  us  know  of  this  danger,  that  with  His  aid 
we  might  guard  ourselves  against  it.  'With  the  temptation/  He 
has  '  made  a  way  of  escape,  so  that  we  may  be  able  to  bear  it.' 

"  This  knowledge  widens  our  view,  enlarges  our  conception,  ele- 
vates the  whole  man.  We  understand  nature  better — ourselves — 
the  purpose  of  this  life,  its  importance,  the  value  of  the  stake.  It 
is  well  to  know  that  '  we  wrestle  with  principalities  and  powers ; ' 
'with  the  powers  of  darkness/  Not  being  ignorant  of  Satan's  de- 
vices, we  can  the  better  resist  them.  We  are  more  ready  to  under- 


430  MEMOIR    OF 

stand  that  the  evil  in  the  world  is  a  spirit.  The  evil  one  is  a  person, 
and  the  evil  person  is  a  spirit,  not  acting  palpably,  but  subtilely  and 
secretly,  like  poison  in  a  cup,  or  infection  in  the  air.  It  makes  the 
people  of  God  more  spiritual.  As  to  its  effect  on  others,  it  is  the 
savor  of  life  unto  life  with  one  class,  of  death  unto  death  with 
another. 

"  This  truth,  it  is  to  be  observed,  seems  to  have  been  revealed 
more  fully  as  the  dispensations  of  God  advanced,  if  not  in  the  fact, 
at  least  in  its  relations  and  peculiar  meaning.  Possessed  by  men, 
out  of  this  proportion  it  only  breeds  superstition.  Hence  devil 
worship.  To  us  the  fact  is  much  in  place,  and  very  needful. 

"2.  He  was  led  up  of  the  Spirit.  There  is  something  peculiar 
here,  because  He  acted  officially,  and  yet  something  common  with 
all  men  under  temptation.  God  has  put  us  in  this  world  to  be 
tempted.  He  is  pleased  to  see  us  act,  in  such  circumstances,  as 
"Secomes  us.  It  was  so  with  the  Angels,  so  with  Adam  and  Eve, 
30  with  all  men,  not  excepting  Christians.  He  takes  them  not 
out  of  the  world,  but  promises  to  be  with  them  in  the  world.  So 
of  all  men,  with  the  temptation  He  will  make  a  way  of  escape. 
Let  us,  then,  submit  to  our  lot,  and  fight  manfully  under  God's  eye. 
"  3.  After  His  Baptism.  Christ's  baptism  had  special  reference 
to  His  work.  Also  an  example  'fulfilling  all  righteousness.'  These 
things  called  attention  to  Him,  and  made  Satan  more  active  against 
Him.  Satan  is  always  active,  but  finite ;  and,  therefore,  he  hus- 
bands his  resources,  and  displays  what  may  be  called  skill  in  the 
use  of  the  means  of  assault.  He  chooses  his  time,  places,  and  per- 
sons. By  baptism,  and  the  visible  tokens  of  the  Divine  favor  which 
accompanied  it,  it  was  made  manifest  that  Christ  was  some  way 
largely  connected  with  the  kingdom  of  God.  As  Herod  was  jeal- 
ous at  Christ's  birth,  so  was  Satan  at  His  baptism.  Both  feared 
for  their  kingdom.  '  We  are  come  to  worship  the  king  of  the  Jews/ 
troubled  Herod.  So  the  voice  which  said, '  This  is  my  beloved  Son, 
hear  ye  Him,'  troubled  Satan. 

"From  this  we  infer  that  Christians,  professors  of  religion,  if 
they  are  in  earnest,  are  the  chief  objects  of  Satan's  enmity. 
Worldly  persons,  without  God,  are  all  that  he  could  desire.  It  is 
when  they  break  away  from  him  and  turn  to  God  that  his  wrath 
is  roused.  It  was  natural  that  he  should  make  his  assault  at  an 
early  stage,  and  being  defeated,  should  afterward  wait  for  other 
opportunities.  Nominal  Christians  are  not  troubled.  That  is  not 


WILLIAM    SPARROW,   D.  D.  431 

his  policy.     'This  arch-pirate,'  says  Leighton,  'lets  the  empty  ship 
pass,  but  lays  wait  for  them  when  they  return  richest  laden.' 

"A  faithful  minister  not  exempt,  especially  on  his  entrance  into 
public  life.  He  finds  himself  in  a  novel  situation,  perhaps  one  flat- 
tering to  the  vanity  of  the  natural  heart.  All  office  is,  when  first 
assumed.  This  of  the  ministry  especially.  For  Christ's  sake  good 
people  show  regard  which,  though  well  intentioned,  is  most  per- 
nicious. Worldly  people,  at  the  instance  of  different  feelings,  do 
the  same  thing.  Hence  a  spirit  of  self-seeking  and  self-dependence. 
And  when  in  such  a  frame,  then  is  the  hour  of  Satan's  power.  If 
he  does  not  cause  a  fall  before  men,  he  causes  a  decline  before  God, 
which,  perhaps,  answers  as  well  his  malicious  purpose. 

"4.  The  temptations  themselves.  Christ  was  forty  days  in  the 
wilderness.  All  that  time  we  may  suppose  He  was  tempted.  The 
particular  solicitations  recorded  are  but  samples.  It  is  not  easy 
to  classify  these  satisfactorily.  At  all  events,  He  was  called  to  re- 
sist 'the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil.'  Through  the  natural  and 
allowable  appetite  of  hunger,  which  we  feel  merely  in  virtue  of 
possessing  bodies,  He  was  tempted  in  the  first  instance.  Besides 
this,  by  the  panoramic  shows  of  this  world  He  was  further  tempted 
to  forsake  God's  allegiance.  Once  more,  He  was  tempted  to  mag- 
nify Himself;  was  solicited  to  an  act  which  would  have  its  root 
chiefly  in  pride  and  self-sufficiency.  All  these  temptations  were 
plied  and  pressed  by  Satan.  This  last  would  seem  more  especially 
his  own.  It  provoked  to  what  we  call  spiritual  sin,  and  may,  with 
propriety,  be  fathered  especially  on  the  great  evil  Spirit.  It  did 
not  come  from  the  flesh,  nor  from  the  world ;  therefore,  we  must 
refer  it,  so  far  as  it  had  an  outward  cause,  to  Satan  himself. 

"  But  the  best  way  is  to  look  at  the  temptation  in  the  root  of  it. 
Satan  would  lead  Christ  to  unbelief.  The  unbelief  of  supposing  that 
His  sufferings  were  not  all  right,  and  that  His  Father  would  not 
deliver  Him  out  of  them — that  he  was  overlooked  in  them.  The 
unbelief  of  thinking  the  world  could  make  Him  happy  without 
God.  Our  Saviour  says,  '  What  shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he  gain  the 
whole  world,  and  lose  his  own  soul? '  The  soul  without  God  is  lost. 
Satan  would  tempt  to  the  belief  that  being  without  God  in  the 
world  we  may  still  be  happy.  The  unbelief  of  thinking  there  can 
be  any  evidence  better  than  God's  word,  or  that  when  He  has 
spoken  from  heaven  any  natural  appearances  can  outweigh  such 
testimony. 


432  MEMOIR    OF 

"5.  The  weapons  with  which  Christ  resisted  Satan.  Most 
striking.  Who  was  He  ?  With  whom  were  the  treasures  of  wis- 
dom and  knowledge  ?  Even  at  twelve  years  of  age  what  under- 
standing! Yet  He  made  the  Scriptures  the  man  of  His  counsel. 
At  every  call  its  language  came.  When  encouraging  to  the  search 
of  truth,  He  says,  'Search  the  Scriptures.'  When  reproving  error, 
'Ye  do  err,  not  understanding  the  Scriptures.'  He  not  only  urged 
its  use  on  others.  He  used  it  Himself.  Every  temptation  was 
met  by  a  text  of  Scripture. 

"  What  honor  on  Holy  Writ !  How  entirely  adequate  must  He 
have  deemed  it,  interpreted  with  the  aid  of  the  Holy  Spirit !  What 
a  lesson  to  us,  'to  read,  mark,  learn,  and  inwardly  digest'  its 
blessed  truths.  To  have  it  in  our  memory  ready  for  use.  To  be 
familiar  with  Scripture  is  to  secure  the  presence  of  a  friend  at  our 
side  in  the  hour  of  temptation ;  whether  we  need  consolation, 
doctrine,  reproof,  or  instruction,  to  impart  them.  This  friend  is 
not  Omnipotent  (none  that  but  God),  but  most  helpful.  Besides, 
what  friend  more  suitable  to  direct  us  to  this  Higher  Friend?  A 
precept  of  man  is  comparatively  of  the  earth,  earthy.  The  Word 
of  God,  from  Heaven,  leads  to  Heaven  directly ;  yea,  to  God.  Let 
all  honor,  then,  be  put  on  God's  Word.  Not  that  which  will  lead 
us  to  pay  it  a  nominal  respect,  but  to  use  it.  It  is  said,  none  so 
difficult  to  cope  with  in  argument  as  a  man  of  one  book.  What- 
ever the  truth  of  the  saying,  or  the  philosophy  of  it,  if  true,  the 
most  successful  man  in  resisting  Satan  is  a  man  of  one  book,  the 
Bible. 

"6.  'The  devil  left  Him,  and  angels  came  and  ministered  unto 
Him.'  How  pleasant  this.  So  always  under  God's  administration. 
Though  heaviness  may  endure  for  a  night,  joy  cometh  in  the  morn- 
ing. The  Apostle  says, '  Resist  the  devil,  and  he  will  flee  from  you.' 
How  exhibited  here.  'Christ  was  made  like  His  brethren.'  No 
final  deliverance  until  death ;  yet  respite.  More  than  that,  strength 
increased.  'Angels  came  to  minister.'  'Well  done,  good  and 
faithful  servant.'  This  is  not  to  foster  pride,  but  to  inculcate  hu- 
mility; therein  lies  all  spiritual  victory,  and  the  congratulation 
fosters  this.  '  0  Israel,  thou  hast  destroyed  thyself,  but  in  Me  is 
thy  help.'  'Trust  in  the  Lord  with  all  thine  heart,  and  lean  not 
on  thine  own  understanding.'  'Angels  sent  forth  to  minister  to 
Him.'  This  intimated  that  we  should  know  the  extent  of  creation 
the  sympathy  of  other  good  beings  with  a  soul  struggling  against 


WILLIAM     SPARROW,    D.  D.  433 

temptation,  not  to  call  off  our  thoughts  or  dependence  from  God. 
In  their  exigencies  they  look  to  Him.  At  all  times  we  move  in 
Him.  They  ministered  to  Christ  in  the  wilderness,  in  the  garden, 
at  the  tomb,  at  the  ascension.  So,  if  we  follow  Jesus, '  in  the  regen- 
eration' we  shall  be  in  all  these  things  as  He  was." 


WATER.* 

"  A  favorite  emblem  of  Gospel  Truth.  Because,  1st.  It  is  neces- 
sary  to  human  physical  life ;  so  the  other  to  intellectual  and  moral 
life.  They  are  alike  cheap. 

"2.  An  emblem  of  truth,  as  snow  is.  Who  has  seen  the  gush  of 
pure  water  from  some  of  the  great  springs  of  the  Valley  of  Vir- 
ginia. It  seems  to  us  stainless  as  the  white  covering  of  the  highest 
Himalayas. 

"  3.  Not  only  an  emblem,  but  an  agent.  It  is  the  great  purifier 
of  society.  As  it  is  necessary  to  slake  man's  thirst,  so  to  cleanse 
his  person,  and  all  other  things. 

"4.  Water,  again,  is  refreshing,  and  so  is  truth.  The  universe 
was  made  on  a  principle  of  truth,  and  mind  was  made  for  it ;  it 
thirsts  for  it,  often  when  it  is  in  many  respects  condemnatory. 
When  in  a  normal  state,  'as  the  hart  desireth  the  water-brooks,' 
so  the  human  mind  the  truth  of  God. 

"Truth  may  be  death ;  but  legitimately  it  is  life,  and  health,  and 
peace,  and  joy. 

"Accordingly,  the  Prophets  make  much  use  of  water  to  represent 
truth :  '  Ho !  every  one  that  thirsteth.'  So  our  Lord  represents 
Himself  as  a  fountain  of  living  waters.  In  the  last  book  of  the 
New  Testament  the  image  is  beautifully  used." 


*  Found,  in  pencil,  on  the  fly-leaf  of  his  Life  of  Kruraraacher,  and  probably  one  of 
his  last  sketches. 


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